A California man who once called himself the 'Crypto Godfather' has admitted to his role in an attempted multi-million dollar Bitcoin robbery that led to a Connecticut couple's violent kidnapping in 2024.
Adam Iza, 25, pleaded guilty on Monday to interference with commerce by robbery, also known as Hobbs Act Robbery, in federal court, US Attorney for the District of Connecticut David Sullivan announced.
Police in Danbury had arrested six men from Florida on August 25, 2024, who were involved in the violent carjacking of a Lamborghini Urus and the kidnapping of the two people inside the vehicle.
An ensuing investigation revealed that the kidnapping victims' son was involved in a wide-ranging scheme to steal millions of dollars in Bitcoin in the country's largest ever crypto heist.
In an attempt to steal the cryptocurrency back, Iza and others planned and coordinated the attempted robbery and kidnapping. One of his alleged co-conspirators, who had a previous altercation with the victim's son in a Miami nightclub the month before, was said to be in regular communication with some of the kidnappers from Florida ahead of the crime, providing funding for it and helping to arrange their transportation and lodging.
Iza also used his cellphone and encrypted messaging apps to communicate with the kidnappers, directing them on how to carry out the plan and providing them with money. The six men from Florida were all charged with offenses related to the violent carjacking and kidnapping, and all have pleaded guilty.
The Kidnapping Incident
Danbury police previously reported receiving multiple phone calls on August 25 about a couple being abducted. The unidentified victims were house-hunting and pulled up to a luxury home in their Lamborghini, believing they were meeting a real estate agent, according to ABC 7.
Their vehicle was purposely rear-ended by a white Honda Civic. When the couple exited to see what happened, they were surrounded by three other vehicles. The Florida men beat the couple with a baseball bat and shoved them into a white van. When the husband resisted, the kidnappers punched him in the face.
'The suspects repeatedly told [the couple] that they would "kill them,"' FBI Agent Matthew Loucks wrote in an affidavit obtained by CNBC. 'The victims were pushed into the back of the work van and held down. The suspects then bound both victims' arms and feet with silver duct tape, which they also used to cover [the husband's] face. The suspects forced [his wife] to lie face down and ordered her not to look at them.'
Other suspects drove off with the couple's Lamborghini. Fortunately, a witness saw the whole thing and followed the van until it crashed and police arrived.
Investigation and Connection to Crypto Heist
Angel Borrero, Reynaldo Diaz, Anthony Pena, Josue Romero, Ricardo Estrada, and Michael Rivas were arrested, but authorities initially struggled to find their connection to the victims. Danbury police were already familiar with the couple because their home had been targeted by 'swatting calls,' where people who knew their son from online gaming falsely reported crimes at their house, Detective Sergeant Steven Castrovinci said.
Officers sought to question the son after the kidnapping but held off at the FBI's request, who informed them the son was being investigated for a cryptocurrency heist that stole $246 million.
'That's how we knew - and even at that time, we didn't really know to what extent he was involved in it,' Castrovinci told the Danbury News-Times. 'We just knew that there was an investigation into him regarding a crypto heist. I don't know how [the six Florida men] knew this kid had that type of money, but everything leads to them going after the parents because of what the kid was involved in.'
Iza's Other Crimes
Iza has been detained since September 24, 2024, after being charged in the Central District of California on unrelated federal offenses including conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion. In that case, Iza hired off-duty Los Angeles sheriff's deputies as personal enforcers to carry out extortion, intimidation, and abuse of legal process.
Court documents detail how in late 2021 or early 2022, Iza, believing a victim possessed a computer with over $100 million in cryptocurrency, told a deputy to obtain a search warrant under false pretenses. The deputy falsely claimed the victim's phone number was associated with a firearms investigation, secured an illegal warrant, and provided the victim's address to Iza.
In March 2022, Iza sent three armed individuals to force entry into the victim's home to steal the laptop, but they fled after the victim fired a gunshot. Undeterred, Iza sent the victim a video of the attempted home invasion.
In another incident in August 2021, two deputies held a victim at gunpoint inside Iza's home, after which Iza transferred $25,000 from the victim's bank account to his own. He also admitted to stealing over $37 million by fraudulently accessing Meta Platforms Inc business manager accounts and associated lines of credit from 2020 through 2022.
For those crimes, Iza faced up to 35 years in federal prison. He now faces up to an additional 20 years for the Hobbs Act Robbery conviction, with sentencing scheduled for August 12.
