Irvine Woman Sentenced to 18 Months for Hiding Undeclared $2.6M in Fraud Proceeds

Iris Rabaya Au, 37, of Irvine, California, received 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty in March 2025 to filing a false tax return, according to a Sept. 21 Justice Department sentencing announcement reported by Bitcoin.com News. Prosecutors said more than $2.6 million moved from company accounts into her personal bank accounts between 2020 and 2023 and was left off her federal returns, and U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson ordered $1,484,343 in restitution plus forfeiture of luxury and high-performance cars, designer handbags and three 'Godfather' sculptures. Bitcoin.com News and Crypto News report that Au created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in their names at the direction of her former boyfriend, Adam Iza, who used the 'Godfather' nickname while presenting himself as a cryptocurrency businessman, and that the funds covered luxury property and roughly $1 million paid mostly in cash to Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies. In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors argued that Au 'set up the financial infrastructure that enabled Adam Iza to move, spend, and conceal millions of dollars in fraud proceeds while she personally benefited from the wealth'. Bitcoin Insider, which credits Cryptopolitan and Bitcoin.com News rather than reporting on its own, described the case as part of a widening set of federal prosecutions aimed at partners and financial facilitators who obscure the origin of digital assets. Neither Bitcoin.com News nor Crypto News says whether any digital asset was seized, and the two differ on whether the concealed sum is $2.6 million, as Bitcoin Insider has it, or more than $2.6 million.