A California man known as the crypto 'Godfather' has admitted to playing a key role in a botched Connecticut kidnapping nearly two years ago. Adam Iza, 25, pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, with federal prosecutors seeking a prison term of at least 14 years.
On a leafy Connecticut road in the summer of 2024, would-be kidnappers pulled a couple from their Lamborghini SUV, beat them in broad daylight, and threw them into a van. They were arrested shortly thereafter as multiple witnesses, including a passing off-duty FBI agent, called police. The attack turned out to be linked to a $245 million Bitcoin heist the month before involving the couple's son.
Nightclub Fight Spawns Kidnapping Plot
According to an FBI affidavit, a month before the abduction attempt, one of Iza's alleged co-conspirators, James Schwab, got into a dispute with the couple's son, Veer Chetal, at a Miami nightclub. Schwab then told an acquaintance to rob Chetal and his friends at their Miami rental home. It is not clear if that robbery occurred.
Then came the Bitcoin heist. A few weeks after the nightclub fight, Chetal and two other men hatched an elaborate online scheme, impersonating technical support staff for Google and a cryptocurrency exchange. They stole 4,100 Bitcoins—worth about $245 million at the time—from a Washington, D.C., resident, according to court documents. The trio lived large after the theft, spending millions on cars, clothing, jewelry, rental mansions, and nightclub parties before being arrested. Chetal pleaded guilty last November and awaits sentencing, while the two other men have pleaded not guilty.
Iza and Schwab came up with the idea to take Chetal's parents hostage to snatch some of his ill-gotten riches, the FBI said, citing informants. Schwab and Iza's brother, Saif Faiq, also were charged in the kidnapping attempt and pleaded not guilty. They recruited six other men to go to Connecticut, paying for their travel and lodging. A week after the Bitcoin heist, the group surveilled Chetal's parents hours before the kidnapping.
Abduction Quickly Goes Awry
Sushil and Radhika Chetal were driving in the Lamborghini on Aug. 25, 2024, near Danbury High School when they were rear-ended by a car. A white van then pulled in front of the SUV, and several men surrounded them. The men pulled the Chetals out of the SUV and forced them into their van, beating Sushil Chetal with a baseball bat and dragging Radhika Chetal by her hair. The couple were bound with duct tape, and the van drove off, according to court documents.
After witnesses called police, officers soon spotted the van and a chase ensued. The van eventually crashed, and four of the men got out and fled on foot but were arrested shortly thereafter. The other two men were later found at a home the group had rented in a nearby town. The Chetals were taken to a hospital and released. The six men, all from Florida, have pleaded guilty in connection with the kidnapping. Two have been sentenced to 11 years in prison, and the others await sentencing.
How the 'Godfather' Went from a Bel Air Mansion to Federal Charges
Before Iza's arrest in the Connecticut case, he was under investigation by federal authorities in California for extorting money and property from victims in Los Angeles and elsewhere, court records show. He was charged in that case a month after the kidnapping and later pleaded guilty. Iza, also known as Ahmed Faiq, was living in a mansion in the Bel Air section of Los Angeles, calling himself The Godfather while running a crypto trading company, Zort. While stealing millions of dollars and funneling it through shell companies, Iza spent freely on luxury cars and other extravagances, including cosmetic surgery to lengthen his legs, prosecutors said.
Beginning in August 2021, Iza paid around $100,000 a month for his personal protection to a private security firm founded by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy that also employed other deputies, prosecutors said. Iza hired off-duty deputies to act as enforcers against people with whom he had personal and business disputes. He used the deputies to extort, intimidate, set people up for arrest, and abuse the legal process. The deputies used law enforcement databases to generate information about Iza's enemies and obtained search warrants under false pretenses. On one occasion, two deputies held a victim at gunpoint inside Iza's home, pressuring the victim to transfer $25,000 to Iza's bank account, prosecutors said.
When he pleaded guilty in that case in January, Iza also admitted to stealing more than $37 million by fraudulently accessing the business manager accounts of Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook, and their lines of credit from 2020 to 2022. He awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy against rights, and tax evasion. Several deputies also were charged in the investigation.
