Former LASD deputy jailed for obstructing crypto 'mogul' Adam Iza extortion probe

A former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy who lied to federal agents about witnessing a cryptocurrency businessman threaten a victim with live ammunition was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson handed down the sentence and a $10,000 fine to Scott Allen Simpkins, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California said in a statement on Monday. 

Simpkins pleaded guilty on March 17 to one count of obstruction of justice and resigned from the LASD's Special Enforcement Bureau following his felony plea, the office added. 

According to the statement, Simpkins was working private security at Iza's Bel Air residence alongside fellow former LASD deputy Christopher Michael Cadman when the incident occurred in 2021. They were employed by Saavedra & Associates, a company owned by then-LASD Deputy Eric Chase Saavedra.

Prosecutors said Iza placed four or five live 9mm rounds on his desk, twirled a bullet while threatening the victim, and demanded a $25,000 transfer before Simpkins and Cadman escorted the victim from the property.

Simpkins and Cadman were paid $1,400 each for their shifts during the incident. After Simpkins and Cadman helped secure a long-term security contract with Iza, Saavedra & Associates paid them approximately 10% of the firm's total profits from the contract's first month, per the statement.

The sentencing comes amid broader criminal proceedings against Iza, who has been in federal custody since September 2024. He pleaded guilty in California in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud, and tax evasion, and has not yet been sentenced in that case.

Separately, the Department of Justice said last month that Iza pleaded guilty in a Connecticut federal court to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, a charge carrying a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. 

That case stemmed from an August 2024 attempted bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Danbury, Connecticut, targeting the parents of an individual accused of stealing hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin.