In short
- Michael David Coberg pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy towards rights for working with crypto ‘Godfather’ Adam Iza.
- The scheme concerned armed extortion, a staged drug arrest with planted narcotics, and systematic abuse of police authority.
- Coberg weaponized his place to interrogate victims, facilitate false arrests, and intimidate rivals, in response to the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Central District of California.
A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who moonlighted as muscle for a self-proclaimed “Crypto Godfather” has admitted guilt in federal court docket, which an professional described as “a subsequent degree of crypto malfeasance.”
Michael David Coberg of Eastvale pleaded responsible Monday to conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy towards rights, in response to a assertion by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Central District of California.
Coberg labored as a enterprise accomplice and advisor to Adam Iza, a fraudulent crypto entrepreneur who ran the now-defunct buying and selling platform Zort and has been in federal custody since September 2024.
Working for Iza, the previous sheriff interrogated victims as an energetic officer, orchestrated false arrests, and helped extort tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} whereas gathering a minimum of $20,000 month-to-month, in response to his plea settlement.
The 2 even deliberate to start out an anabolic steroid enterprise.
“Cops shouldn’t be capable of train the badge in off-duty capability, because it opens up alternatives for corruption and intimidation of residents,” Kadan Stadelmann, Chief Know-how Officer at Komodo Platform, instructed Decrypt.
Coberg is scheduled to be sentenced on February 17, 2026, and faces a statutory most of 20 years in federal jail on the extortion depend and as much as 10 years on the conspiracy towards rights depend.
Prosecutors say Coberg conspired with Iza to intimidate victims in 2021, together with forcing one businessman to switch $127,000 at gunpoint and orchestrating the false drug arrest of one other in Paramount.
“Coberg used state energy to additional fraudulent schemes, which is especially worrying on this case,” Stadelmann stated. “The state has a monopoly on pressure, and Coberg assumed that energy prolonged past his duties as a Sheriff.”
Stadelmann famous how the blurred public-private boundaries spotlight “the weak oversight of off-duty work, through which corruption has no examine.”
“This fraud unlocked a subsequent degree of crypto malfeasance and is way past the standard crypto fraud or ICO schemes, because it includes legislation enforcement utilizing intimidation techniques,” he stated.
Other than Coberg, deputies Christopher Michael Cadman and David Anthony Rodriguez have additionally pleaded responsible to their roles in working with Iza. Cadman is scheduled to be sentenced in January 2026, and Rodriguez is predicted to be sentenced on November 10.
Eric Chase Saavedra, one other former deputy linked to Iza’s LAPD pay-offs, admitted guilt in February and continues to be awaiting sentencing.
Over the course of Iza’s schemes, he acquired $16 million in crypto by fraudulent means and spent roughly $10 million on luxurious objects along with his ex-girlfriend, Iris Ramaya Au, who pleaded responsible in March to failing to report $2.6 million in illicit proceeds.
Each day Debrief E-newsletter
Begin day-after-day with the highest information tales proper now, plus unique options, a podcast, movies and extra.