{"id":23925,"date":"2026-03-17T09:22:48","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/ex-la-deputy-sent-to-prison-for-aiding-crypto-god-father-in-extortion-scheme\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T09:22:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:22:55","slug":"ex-la-deputy-sent-to-prison-for-aiding-crypto-god-father-in-extortion-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/ex-la-deputy-sent-to-prison-for-aiding-crypto-god-father-in-extortion-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-LA deputy sent to prison for aiding crypto \u201cGod Father\u201d in extortion scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p>An ex-Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department deputy was sentenced to prison for his role in extorting victims alongside a jailed crypto figure.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_1dc7ad7e820a09b4638117fdea997388\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Former LA County deputy Michael Coberg was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay $127,000 for assisting crypto founder Adam Iza in multiple extortion schemes.<\/li>\n<li>Prosecutors said Coberg received at least $20,000 a month and used his position to help detain victims, force crypto transfers, and orchestrate a drug-related arrest setup.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Michael Coberg, who served as a deputy with the department, was <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-cdca\/pr\/former-la-county-sheriffs-deputy-sentenced-more-5-years-federal-prison-extorting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">handed<\/a> a 63-month prison sentence for helping jailed crypto founder Adam Iza extort victims.<\/p>\n<p>He has also been ordered to pay $127,000 in restitution.<\/p>\n<p>According to prosecutors, Coberg received at least $20,000 a month for his services from Iza, who founded the crypto trading platform Zort and was known as \u201cThe Godfather.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The incident dates back to October 2021, when Coberg was part of a team that picked up a man identified only as \u201cL.A.\u201d amid a financial dispute tied to Iza.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Coberg then brought L.A. to Iza\u2019s house, where Iza recorded a video and forced him to transfer $127,000 to his bank account while Coberg stood watch.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequently, Coberg was also accused of taking the victim to a firing range, where Iza held him at gunpoint and demanded the transfer of funds.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors further noted that Coberg conspired to set up another victim, identified only as \u201cR.C.,\u201d in a drug-related arrest scheme.<\/p>\n<p>Prosecutors also noted that R.C. had been targeted in coordination with Christopher Cadman, another former deputy who has also pleaded guilty in the case.<\/p>\n<p>Coberg pleaded guilty in September to conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy against rights. Meanwhile, Iza is currently awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty last year to extorting multiple victims.<\/p>\n<p>Cases involving crypto-related extortion, often referred to as wrench attacks, have been on the rise in recent years. As previously reported by crypto.news, a couple in western Paris was held hostage and forced to transfer roughly $980,000 in Bitcoin, underscoring how physical coercion is increasingly being used to bypass digital security measures.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An ex-Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department deputy was sentenced to prison for his role in extorting victims alongside a jailed crypto figure. Summary Former LA County deputy Michael Coberg was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23925"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23925\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23927,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23925\/revisions\/23927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}