The girlfriend of Love Island winner Davide Sanclimenti has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to filing a false tax return concealing millions of dollars in illicit income.
Iris Rabaya Au, 37, was sentenced on September 21 and ordered to pay $1.4 million in restitution. She had admitted to one count of subscribing to a false tax return after agreeing to a plea deal in March 2025. Prosecutors said she failed to declare more than $2.6 million transferred into her personal accounts between 2020 and 2023.
The funds were linked to the criminal activities of Au's former partner, self-styled cryptocurrency businessman Adam Iza, who is known online as The Godfather. Prosecutors said Au set up the financial infrastructure that enabled Iza to move, spend and conceal millions of dollars in fraud proceeds while she personally benefited from the wealth. At Iza's direction, she created shell corporations and opened bank accounts in the names of those entities, funnelling illicit cash through them. Prosecutors also said she used illegal cash to pay police officers around £750,000, mainly in cash, for protection.
Authorities said Au had access to some £9 million in cryptocurrency for her fraudster ex-boyfriend and transferred £1.9 million from the shell accounts to her own bank accounts without reporting the income. Iza pleaded guilty in January 2025 to conspiracy against rights, wire fraud and tax evasion, and is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence over his involvement in an attempted Bitcoin robbery and kidnapping in Connecticut in August 2024.
In addition to her prison term, Au was forced to forfeit a string of luxury assets, including a Mercedes-Benz GLS, a Porsche 911 and a Ferrari 488 Pista, along with a designer handbag collection reported to include 14 Louis Vuitton bags, three Chanel bags and pieces from Prada, Dior, Hermes and Gucci. The court also heard she had spent nearly £7.5 million on luxury property, cars, jewellery and recreation.
Sanclimenti, 31, who won Love Island season eight with Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu in 2022, began dating Au in 2024. He has said he knew about her legal situation and vowed to stand by her through the proceedings, and was photographed leaving court with his arm around her after sentencing.
The case has cast a shadow over the reality star's relationship and renewed scrutiny of the tangled web connecting reality television fame, crypto wealth and serious financial crime. The sentence was handed down by US District Judge Percy Anderson, with Christopher Darden acting for the defence. Au, who calls herself The Goddess online just as her ex styled himself The Godfather, must now begin her prison term while her boyfriend's television career continues without her by his side.