Ex-Girlfriend of Crypto Schemer to be Sentenced for Hiding $2.6M from IRS

The Orange County-based former girlfriend of a crypto fraud defendant who dubbed himself “the godfather” is set to be sentenced Monday for failing to report more than $2.6 million derived from her ex-boyfriend’s scheme.

Iris Ramaya Au, 36, of Irvine, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court in March 2025 to submitting a false tax return.

Au’s plea deal 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 the schemes.

Iza, 26, formerly of Beverly Hills and Newport Beach, pleaded guilty in January 2025 to federal conspiracy, wire fraud and tax evasion charges, and is expected to be sentenced in downtown Los Angeles next month. He is already serving a 15-year prison term for his involvement in an attempted robbery of Bitcoin and a kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024.

At Iza’s direction, Au created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in the names of those entities. She then used illicit funds placed into the accounts to pay about $1 million to now-former Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies her ex-boyfriend had corrupted, according to court papers.