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Points of Focus
- Iris Rabaya Au was sentenced to 18 months for leaving more than $2.6 million in income off her tax returns.
- Au acquired about $16 million in crypto for Adam Iza, who admitted stealing more than $37 million through fraudulent Meta account access.
- Her conviction was for a false tax return, not money laundering or conspiracy against rights, highlighting the narrower scope of the judgment.
US District Judge Percy Anderson sentenced Iris Rabaya Au, 37, to 18 months in prison on Sept. 21. Au pleaded guilty in March 2025 to one count of subscribing to a false tax return. She left more than $2.6 million in income off her returns, and the court ordered $1,484,343 in restitution. Au must also forfeit luxury cars, designer handbags and three “Godfather” sculptures.
The money came through her then-boyfriend, Adam Iza, a self-described crypto businessman who called himself “The Godfather.” Iza admitted in Jan. 2025 to using fraudulent access to Meta business accounts to steal over $37 million from 2020 to 2022.
Shell companies, deputies and $16 million in crypto
Au set up shell corporations and their bank accounts at Iza’s instruction, according to her plea agreement. About $1 million from those accounts went to active Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies who worked off-duty as Iza’s security, largely in cash. No DOJ, IRS or press source states what the $1 million covered beyond paying the deputies. The accounts also funded luxury purchases and leases and nearly $10 million in recreational activities for Iza and Au.
She acquired about $16 million in cryptocurrency for Iza. DOJ’s sentencing release doesn’t say how she acquired it or name any tokens, exchanges, or wallets. It also doesn’t specify if prosecutors seized any crypto. Au moved over $2.6 million from those different accounts into her personal bank accounts between 2020 and 2023. Prosecutors argued Au built the financial setup Iza used to move, spend, and hide fraud proceeds.
Iza also had the sheriff’s deputies obtain search warrants and confidential police data on his adversaries. Five former deputies have been convicted in connection with Iza’s activities, DOJ said Sept. 14. IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI investigated the case.
The self-proclaimed crypto “Godfather” and a sheriff's deputy agreed to plead guilty for their roles in a conspiracy that violated the civil rights of Angelenos via intimidation, extortion, illegal search warrants and other abuses of police power. Details: https://t.co/MXFZ1IEPMr pic.twitter.com/AGSvnx0Ryr
— FBI Los Angeles (@FBILosAngeles) January 18, 2025
Au’s account and Iza’s Oct. 5 hearing
Au reportedly said in a Sept. 20 video that she had been in an abusive relationship and made tax mistakes. In her plea agreement, however, she admitted willfully failing to report the income. Au is dating Love Island winner Davide Sanclimenti, who reportedly left the courthouse with her.
Iza, 26, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles, California, in Jan. 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion. His sentencing in that California case is set for Oct. 5 before Judge Anderson. Separately, a federal judge in Connecticut sentenced him to 15 years on Sept. 9 for an attempted Bitcoin (BTC) robbery and kidnapping in Danbury in August 2024.
FBI New Haven case update:
California Man Involved in Danbury Kidnapping and Bitcoin Robbery Scheme Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison.https://t.co/By1L3BG1uO. pic.twitter.com/kZbrxZIzFc— FBI New Haven (@FBINewHaven) September 10, 2026
Judgment covers a tax offense, not money laundering
Au’s 18-month sentence is the midpoint of the three-year maximum for her false-return count under 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1). DOJ’s release doesn’t disclose the sentence prosecutors requested or the guideline range.
In fiscal 2025, federal tax fraud sentences averaged 17 months against an average guideline minimum of 26 months. Section 7206(1) requires proof that a defendant willfully signed a return they knew contained a material falsehood. She wasn’t charged with money laundering, structuring, wire-fraud conspiracy, or conspiracy against rights. Iza and former deputies faced some of those counts.
Ex-deputy Christopher Cadman also pleaded guilty in August 2025 to a false-return count involving at least $40,500 in unreported income, alongside conspiracy against rights. He was sentenced to two years in prison on Sept. 14.
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