Former California deputy pleads guilty to role in extortion scheme of crypto ‘godfather’
A former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy and helicopter pilot pleaded guilty Monday, Sept. 29, to federal conspiracy charges after he allegedly worked with a cryptocurrency businessman to extort one of the self-proclaimed “godfather’s” rivals and arrange a false arrest of another.
Michael David Coberg, 44, of Eastvale pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy against rights, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. Coberg “separated from the Sheriff’s Department” on Sept. 4.
The crypto businessman, his girlfriend and multiple former deputies previously pleaded guilty or have agreed to plead guilty.
While employed with the Sheriff’s Department, Coberg earned at least an additional $20,000 a month working as a business partner and advisor to Adam Iza, who ran fraudulent marketing and cryptocurrency schemes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Iza, formerly of Beverly Hills and Newport Coast, has been in federal custody since September 2024 after pleading guilty to federal charges. His sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 15.
In October 2021, prosecutors said Coberg accompanied security guards to pick up someone, identified in court documents as L.A., whose business partner had a financial dispute and take him to Iza’s home, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. At his home, prosecutors said Iza placed a gun on his desk and pulled out an assault rifle, which was placed on the ground near the desk.
Prosecutors allege that Coberg told L.A. he was a law enforcement officer, questioned him about the financial dispute and watched and recorded while Iza demanded L.A. transfer $127,000 to one of his bank accounts. Iza then told his security guards to take L.A.’s passport before driving him back to his hotel, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Earlier, in September 2021, prosecutors allege Coberg worked with Iza and others to lure Ryan Chapell from Miami to Los Angeles to set him up to be falsely arrested with illegal narcotics, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Last month, Chapell sued Los Angeles County and Iza for more than $50 million in damages, claiming Iza and his band of sheriff’s deputies threatened him, facilitated his false arrest and executed a falsely obtained search warrant, trashing his home in the process.
Iza had hired Chapell, a promoter, to produce his birthday party at his Bel-Air mansion in August 2021, but two days after the celebration, Iza texted Chapell, saying he was unhappy with the event, the lawsuit said. When Chapell arrived, Iza was loading bullets into a firearm magazine with multiple guns nearby and at least eight armed sheriff’s deputies around him, the lawsuit claimed.
Iza demanded half his money for the party back, and when Chapell refused, everyone pulled their guns on him until he handed over his cellphone and password to Iza, the lawsuit said. Iza used the phone to transfer $25,000 from Chapell’s bank account to one of his shell corporations, the lawsuit claimed.
After learning of the dispute, prosecutors claim Coberg worked with co-conspirators to have Chapell’s ex-girlfriend contact him and pretend to be interested in pursuing a romantic relationship again to convince Chapell to fly to Los Angeles and do drugs with her. Coberg advised a co-conspirator to buy Chapell a plane ticket, pick him up at Los Angeles International Airport in a white Tesla, drive him to get drugs and later go to a location in Paramount where a sheriff’s deputy would make a traffic stop and arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Former sheriff’s deputy Christopher Michael Cadman, 33, of Fullerton also helped intimidate Chapell and helped facilitate the false arrest. He pleaded guilty on Aug. 7 and will be sentenced in January 2026.
Coberg, with help from Cadman, lied to a fellow deputy, saying a confidential informant was driving a white Tesla with someone who had an outstanding arrest warrant and had illegal drugs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The deputy later made the traffic stop and found cocaine in the car and psilocybin mushrooms in Chapell’s backpack and arrested Chapell, prosecutors said.
During the arrest, Coberg drove past slowly in a black Cadillac Escalade SUV with the window rolled down as Iza watched from the back passenger seat and photographed and recorded the arrest, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Coberg texted Cadman, thanking him for making the traffic stop happen and said “the kid enjoyed it,” referring to Iza, prosecutors said. Iza later taunted Chapell by sending him a photo of the arrest and his booking photo and texting “[f]or a drug dealer, you [expletive] with the wrong people.”
Coberg’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 17. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison if convicted of all charges.