Meta Ad Fraud Mastermind Who Called Himself “The Godfather” Gets Over Six Years Behind Bars

Adam Iza, a 26-year-old who billed himself as “The Godfather,” will spend 78 months in federal prison after scamming Meta out of more than $37 million, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson also told him to repay $23.4 million. Iza admitted guilt in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and one tax evasion charge. His new term overlaps with a 15-year sentence handed down last month in Connecticut over a botched bitcoin robbery in August 2024, so the two will be served together.

How the Meta Business Manager Scheme Worked

Investigators said Iza broke into Meta Business Manager accounts and the credit lines attached to them, then resold that access to advertising companies. Meta charged customers for ads they never purchased and refunded them afterward. Iza pulled in at least $36.4 million from the operation, leaving the IRS with an estimated $13.3 million tax loss. To hide the money, he sent income to crypto custodians and concealed that he owned a company named Zort, which shows how crypto custody services can get tangled up in larger fraud and tax cases.

Sheriff’s Deputies Hired to Harass Rivals

From 2021 to 2022, Iza paid off-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to pull confidential police information, personal records and search warrants, then used them to follow and pressure people he considered enemies. All five former deputies have since been convicted. At sentencing, prosecutors warned that wealth cannot buy access to restricted databases, warrants, arrests, badges or firearms for personal disputes.

Recent Crypto Fraud Cases in the US

The ruling follows other fraud cases. A Brooklyn man received 12 years last month for posing as Coinbase support staff and deceiving about 100 people, and a Las Vegas businessman was convicted in August of running a crypto Ponzi scheme that cost at least 400 investors $24 million.