Federal prosecutors in New York have charged three foreign nationals with using artificial intelligence to pose as corporate executives and lawyers, persuading company employees to wire away about $129 million.
The Justice Department unsealed an indictment against Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42. They face charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
Soall and Hazan were taken into custody in Spain over the summer, and Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom in September. The defendants come from Spain, the UK, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The case docket was still sealed in online court records as of Thursday evening.
How the calls worked
Prosecutors say the group went after thousands of companies worldwide between 2024 and 2026, often aiming at accounting departments. An email that appeared to come from the CEO would ask a staffer for help with a confidential financial deal.
A phone or video call followed, in which the defendants used AI to copy the executive's voice and, in some cases, his or her image, according to the indictment. The employee was then told to reach out to an attorney at a major law firm, a role the group was also prepared to fake.
The alleged scheme orchestrated by Soall, Hazan, and Sheetrit demonstrates how the use of advanced technology can be exploited to commit large-scale fraud
James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI assistant director in charge
Soall mostly posed as British lawyers and relied on a handwritten script to sound convincing on those calls, the U.S. attorney's office said. The fake attorney would then instruct the employee to send large payments overseas.
Who lost money
The largest single loss named by prosecutors was more than $11 million taken from a UK technology company. A Florida pet food company lost about $5 million, and a Missouri-based hospital system nearly as much.
Prosecutors also cite losses of more than $4.6 million at a Massachusetts mutual fund, about $3 million at a California hospital system and roughly $2.7 million at a Rhode Island bank.
Payments landed in bank accounts in nine countries, from China and Singapore to Greece and the U.S. The money was then turned into cryptocurrency to obscure where it came from before being split among the three men and their co-conspirators, according to the Justice Department.
Each charge carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, except aggravated identity theft, which carries two years. Hazan was convicted in a New York court in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, prosecutors said.
The men used a string of aliases, including Rocky Balboa and Seba Clarke for Soall and Superman Cash and Fat Boy for Hazan. James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI assistant director in charge, said the bureau would keep adapting its tools to disrupt criminals who weaponize emerging technologies.
