Adam Isa grew up isolated from the Bel Air mansion where he lived until his arrest in September.
His lawyer, Joseph Sadat, said Isa spent his childhood in poverty in Iraq and moved to the United States as a teenager, borrowing a computer from his uncle and building a lucrative cryptocurrency trading platform.
But as Isa grew richer, Sadat said, he attracted “the worst types of blood-sucking characters Southern California has to offer.”
Federal prosecutors said that included several Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies allegedly hired to carry out Isa’s criminal bid.
At least six deputies have been relieved of duty in connection with the incident, three more than previously reported, according to court filings and Department of Security officials. The officials requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
The case first came to light two months ago when federal authorities arrested Isa, 24, whom they called the “godfather,” on suspicion of financial crimes and extortion.
Isa, who was charged in October, pleaded not guilty earlier this month and appeared in court on Wednesday. A judge rules that Isa should remain in prison awaiting trial, despite his lawyer’s argument that he could die from medical complications from cosmetic leg lengthening surgery. was lowered.
Federal authorities announced in September that three unnamed members of Congress were involved in an extortion scheme with Isa, and the investigation has continued to expand since then. A fourth deputy was indicted in October. Two people familiar with the matter said last month that sheriff’s officials appeared to be interested, reviewing time sheets for specific units and asking pointed questions about outside employment.
By late October, the Sheriff’s Office confirmed that “several” additional deputies had been relieved of their duties. At least three more lawmakers are absent, bringing the total to six, and several more are under investigation, three people told The Times, although officials declined to give names or numbers. It is said that there is
No one appears to have been criminally charged, and it’s not clear if anyone has retained a lawyer.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on whether anyone else has been charged in connection with the case.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said: “We cannot comment on the investigation other than to say it is an ongoing investigation.”
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By the time Isa was a teenager, his family had left the Middle East and landed in Missouri.
His lawyer, Sadat, said that after Isa came to Los Angeles, he developed “a new type of software that acts as a neural network to assist in trading and predicting the cryptocurrency market.”
Federal court records show Isa’s alleged crimes date back to 2021, when prosecutors say he began paying Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies to help him steal from his enemies as hired muscle. claims.
One of the deputies, identified in court records as Delegate 1, owns a private security company where Isa pays more than $100,000 a month to hire a team of “active LASD deputies” who provide 24-hour escort. ” is said to have been provided.
During a party at Isa’s home in Bel Air in August 2021, his bodyguards, at least one of whom was a law enforcement official, were hired by Isa for the event, according to court filings. He pointed a gun at the planner. Isa allegedly stole the man’s cell phone and used it to send money to himself because he was dissatisfied with the festival.
Isa is accused of keeping the party planner’s credit card photo and other enough personal information to continue accepting money, eventually draining the man’s account of “tens of thousands of dollars.”
A few weeks after the incident, Deputy 1 contacted narcotics agents saying a confidential informant claimed the party planner had large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine in his home, according to Isa’s indictment. I told him. Sheriff’s deputies then searched the home but found no drugs.
The indictment, which identifies the event planner only by his initials RC, says the conspiracy against him extended to include romantic partners. Prosecutors did not name or charge the woman, but she claimed that she secretly contacted Isa and used money he gave her to buy drugs, which were later found in RC’s car.
After RC returned from an out-of-town trip, prosecutors say a sheriff’s deputy (identified in court records as Deputy 4) encountered RC and a woman driving in Paramount on Sept. 27, 2021. ) announced that he had stopped his car.
During the stop, the woman allegedly told Officer 4 that RC had placed drugs under the passenger seat of the vehicle. Detective 4 searched and found what appeared to be cocaine and psilocybin mushrooms.
RC spent several days in jail until the case was dropped due to lack of evidence.
Throughout the traffic stop, the event planner’s girlfriend allegedly communicated with Isa. The indictment alleges she gave a false name, date of birth and phone number to the deputy, but she was not arrested or charged.
Prosecutors say RC at one point sent a message to Isa claiming to have been framed.
“The police have put you on a watch list for a week, so go and complain to the police.” [about] Set you up. Hahaha. “Mr. Isa is a worthless loser,” he replied, according to the indictment.
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Just before Thanksgiving 2021, Isa hired a private investigator to help him surveil a business associate identified in court records as “EZ.” The Times was able to identify him as Enzo Zelocchi, a self-proclaimed “actor, producer, and innovator.”
According to court filings, Isa claimed that Zerocchi stole a laptop that was believed to contain millions of dollars in virtual currency. But in an interview this week, Zelocchi said the laptop was his.
The two sides met on November 21, 2021. According to Zerocchi, he wanted Isa to pay back the money she owed him. At one point, Zerocchi was driving with Isa in the backseat when she asked him to stop at a gas station in Riverside County for food, according to court records.
As they stood outside the car, an SUV pulled up and two of Isa’s bodyguards, identified in the incident report as former L.A. sheriff’s deputy Ray Dudgeon and former custodial assistant Brian Rawlings, pulled up. I jumped off. One of the men approached with a gun, according to the federal indictment.
Zelocchi said his bodyguards manhandled him and tried to put him in an SUV. “I was able to break out and escape inside the gas station,” he told the Times. He reportedly told investigators he believed Isa was trying to kidnap him.
Mr. Dudgeon could not be reached for comment. Officials who answered a phone number associated with Rawlings did not provide comment. Neither bodyguard appears to have been charged in connection with the incident.
Responding Riverside County sheriff’s deputies interviewed Isa, who said he was afraid of being kidnapped and had sent a text message to his bodyguard asking for help.
After Zerocchi fled, Isa and his bodyguards removed two bags from the trunk of Zerocchi’s car and left, according to the indictment.
Over the next four months, prosecutors said, Sheriff’s Deputy 1 and another member of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, identified as Deputy 3, repeatedly searched confidential law enforcement databases for information about Zercchi, his co-workers, and his family. He said he had obtained personal information.
“They were starting to attack everyone in my life,” Zelocchi said. “I was literally hiding out in LA.”
And in January 2022, court records say Deputy 1 had a judge approve a warrant for the GPS location information needed to track multiple cellphones, including Zerocchi’s. According to the criminal complaint, the deputy falsely stated that Zelotchi’s number was associated with a suspect in the firearms investigation.
Zelocchi called the sheriff’s deputies involved “corrupt.” Although some members of Congress have been relieved of their duties, he said he had never seen them detained.
Those involved, including members of Congress, “attempted to damage my reputation physically and mentally,” Zelocchi said, adding that he was forced to move to Europe as a result of the harassment.
“You have no idea how much I suffered,” he said. “It was like a nightmare.”
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In addition to extortion, federal court records accuse Mr. Isa of hiding millions of dollars from tax collectors by failing to report income and funneling money to shell companies with co-conspirators. Some of that money is said to have been used to pay for about $64,000 in surgery to lengthen her legs.
This week’s status conference focused on follow-up surgeries. When Isa appeared before U.S. Judge A. Joel Richlin, he was handcuffed in one hand and holding a cane in the other.
Isa’s lawyer, Sadat, told the judge that his client underwent leg lengthening surgery in November 2022, which was “extremely traumatic” and included a broken leg.
“This is a very harsh procedure, and many doctors are ethically unwilling to perform it,” Sadat said.
Sadat said Isa was scheduled to undergo surgery to remove the leg lengthening rod within a year of the first surgery, but the schedule was delayed and she was arrested in September with the rod in her leg. Sadat said his client is currently suffering from painful boils.
Sadat told the court that Dr. Isa, who is based in Nevada, is “the world’s number one leg length surgeon” and submitted a doctor’s letter saying the rod needed to be removed.
Sadat said Dr. Kevin Deviparshad said if treatment was not done soon, Isa could suffer severe damage to the tissues, muscles and nerves in her leg.
Cosmetic leg lengthening surgery, which is reportedly growing in popularity, can add 2 to 6 inches to your height. Sadat said there were few doctors who would perform this surgery and that Deviparshad would be the one to resolve Isa’s situation.
“We are dealing with a 24-year-old boy with a ticking time bomb in his leg,” Sadat told the judge.
assistant. US attorney. Daniel J. O’Brien said he is in talks with the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service about arranging the surgery in Nevada.
Richlin questioned why Isa was not examined by a specialist to determine what was medically necessary.
“Today, I think there is a lack of a physician with sufficient expertise to provide some kind of consultation to Mr. Isa and diagnose his condition,” Richlin said.
Sadat requested that Isa be temporarily released to his parents, who were present in court, and that he be placed under GPS monitoring so that he could undergo surgery sooner.
Richlin denied the request, repeating that he had previously recognized Isa as a flight risk and saying he “posed a danger to the community.”
After the hearing, Sadat said in a statement that he was “disappointed” by the judge’s decision. He called the operation “urgent and medically necessary” and said doctors had warned Isa was at risk of death.
“We are in a race against time,” Sadat said.
