The Orange County-based former girlfriend of a digital currency fraud defendant who dubbed himself “The Godfather” pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal tax charge for failing to report more than $2.6 million, which prosecutors say she obtained via her ex-boyfriend’s dealings.
Iris Ramaya Au, 35, of Irvine entered her plea in Los Angeles federal court to subscribing to a false tax return. Sentencing was scheduled for June 2, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Au’s plea agreement states that from 2020 to 2024, ex-boyfriend Adam Iza committed a series of crimes, including fraudulently obtaining access to advertising accounts and lines of credit provided by Facebook Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. and selling access to those accounts. Iza obtained millions of dollars of unreported income as a result of these schemes, prosecutors said. He pleaded guilty in January to federal conspiracy, wire fraud and tax evasion charges, and is expected to be sentenced also in June.
Separately, Iza engaged active Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies to provide private security for him and caused the deputies, among other things, to obtain court-authorized search warrants and confidential law enforcement information targeting people with whom Iza had financial and personal disputes, court papers show.
At Iza’s direction, Au created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in the names of those entities. She then used the illicit funds placed into those accounts to pay about $1 million to the deputies, mostly in cash, purchase or lease luxury real estate, cars, jewelry and clothing, pay for recreational activity for Iza and herself valued at nearly $10 million, and acquire $16 million in digital currency for Iza, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Au admitted in her plea agreement that she transferred more than $2.6 million from these various accounts to her personal bank accounts during the period 2020 through 2023, income she failed to report to the IRS on her federal tax returns. Au will face up to three years in federal prison at sentencing, prosecutors said.