Three charged with AI impersonation plot that stole $129 million

Jacob Soall, 41, of Marbella, Spain and the U.K., Sharon Hazan, 54, of Israel, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates were charged in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors say the trio and their co-conspirators impersonated corporate chiefs and attorneys to move more than $129 million out of companies around the world between 2024 and 2026. Soall was arrested in Spain on June 17, Hazan in Spain on Aug. 5, and Sheetrit in the U.K. on Sept. 7, with extradition requests still pending.

The playbook, per the indictment: use AI to copy how top company officials sounded or looked, then do the same for lawyers at prominent firms. Posing as a CEO, the fraudsters asked employees to quietly help with a confidential financial transaction and handed them off to the fake attorneys. A person pretending to be that lawyer then instructed the employee to wire a large payment to an account controlled by the group.

Once the cash landed, the crew converted it into cryptocurrency to bury the trail and carved it up among members. The receiving accounts sat in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China. Hazan, who handled laundering along with Sheetrit, bragged about washing more than $400 million over the previous three years, according to the indictment. Soall, who mainly played U.K. attorneys, kept a handwritten script titled “Lawyer Call.”

The victims include a Missouri hospital system out $4,829,580, a Rhode Island bank down $2,684,580, a California hospital system hit for $2,968,497, a Massachusetts mutual fund company at $4,639,918, and a Florida pet food company at $5,242,747. A U.K. financial technology company took the biggest single hit listed, losing $11,578,474.

Each defendant faces seven counts spanning wire fraud conspiracy, substantive wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and money laundering conspiracy plus two substantive money laundering counts. Most charges carry up to 20 years in prison; aggravated identity theft tops out at two. Hazan already has a 2008 bank fraud conspiracy conviction in the same district.

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said in a statement that he encourages people and businesses to think about how to protect themselves from “the emerging threat of SI-enabled crime,” using the White House's preferred term for AI. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said the bureau “remains committed to rapidly adapting our capabilities to identify, investigate, and disrupt those who seek to harm New Yorkers and businesses operating in our communities.” Prosecutors noted the charges are accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.