Federal prosecutors in New York have charged three people with running a fraud scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate chief executives and outside lawyers, extracting approximately $129 million from companies across multiple countries, according to an indictment filed in the US District Court in New York and announced Thursday.
Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, are charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering in what prosecutors describe as a campaign that ran for more than 18 months and targeted thousands of companies worldwide. The three defendants, who have links to Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, were arrested between June and September, according to court documents. Prosecutors said Hazan was previously convicted in a New York court in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
For companies tracking the rapid industrialization of AI-enabled crime, the case is one of the clearest examples yet of generative tools being welded into a traditional corporate account-takeover playbook — and of the scale a well-organized crew can reach once both the executive's voice and the law firm's phone line can be faked. You can follow our ongoing AI news coverage as more of these cases move through the courts.
How the Scheme Worked
According to the indictment, the defendants primarily targeted corporate accounting departments. The process began with emails that appeared to come from a company's chief executive, requesting assistance with a confidential financial transaction.
When employees responded, the suspects arranged telephone or video calls during which they used AI technology to imitate the executives' voices and, in some cases, prosecutors allege, their appearances. Employees who wanted a second opinion were then instructed to contact lawyers at major law firms — lawyers the defendants were also prepared to impersonate, according to the indictment.
Soall primarily posed as British lawyers and reportedly used a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call" to make himself sound like a genuine legal professional while communicating with victims.
The impersonated lawyers then instructed employees to transfer large sums of money into bank accounts in different countries, the indictment says. From there, the funds were converted into cryptocurrency to conceal their origins before being distributed among the defendants and other alleged participants, court documents said.
The Alleged Victims
The indictment describes a geographically and industrially diverse set of alleged victims. Among the organizations named in court documents are hospital networks in Missouri and California, a Rhode Island-based bank, a financial technology company in the United Kingdom, a Massachusetts mutual fund company and a Florida-based pet food business.
The scale alleged — roughly $129 million from companies approached over 18 months — puts the case among the larger corporate impersonation frauds charged by US prosecutors, and unusual in the central role prosecutors say AI tools played in defeating verification steps that would have stopped conventional email fraud.
Court documents also note that the defendants used nicknames including "Rocky Balboa," "Superman Cash" and "Fat Boy" while coordinating the scheme.
The FBI's Response and Potential Penalties
James C. Barnacle Jr., the FBI Assistant Director in Charge, said the case demonstrated how advanced technology can be exploited to carry out large-scale financial fraud. He said the FBI remains committed to adapting its investigative capabilities to identify and disrupt criminals using emerging technologies to target individuals and businesses.
If convicted, the defendants could face maximum sentences of 20 years for each of the charges, except aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory two-year prison term, according to the US Attorney's Office. Money laundering counts add further exposure, as each transfer and conversion step can be charged separately.
Soall and Sheetrit's lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and it was not immediately clear whether Hazan had legal representation.
Why the Two-Layer Impersonation Matters
Security teams have warned for years that AI voice cloning had collapsed the cost of "CEO fraud," the scam category in which criminals pose as executives and pressure finance staff into urgent wire transfers. What distinguishes this indictment is the alleged second layer: when employees tried to verify the request through an independent channel — calling the law firm — they reached the same criminal operation playing another role.
That defeats the verification advice most corporate training still relies on, because the callback goes to a number or representative controlled by the fraudsters rather than to the genuine firm. Prosecutors' account of the "Lawyer Call" script suggests the impersonation of legal professionals was rehearsed, not improvised.
The case also illustrates the laundering mechanics that make large-scale impersonation viable: funds moved through accounts in multiple countries and then into cryptocurrency, complicating recovery efforts. Whether any of the $129 million can be clawed back will depend on the progress of forfeiture actions alongside the criminal case.
No trial date has been reported. As AI voice and video tools continue to improve, the case is likely to be cited in the growing debate over how companies should verify high-value payment instructions — with many security researchers arguing that voice and even live video can no longer be treated as proof of identity, and that out-of-band verification against independently sourced contact details is the only durable defense.
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