Federal prosecutors charged three foreign nationals with using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate leaders and steal more than $129 million worldwide.
Three foreign nationals have been indicted in federal court in New York for running an international scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys to steal more than $129 million, prosecutors announced Thursday. The operation targeted thousands of organizations worldwide between July 2024 and February 2026, according to CBS News.
How the alleged scam operated
According to an indictment filed in the Southern District of New York, NBC News reported, the conspiracy focused on corporate accounting departments. The group would start by sending an email disguised as a message from a target company’s chief executive officer, asking for help with a confidential financial transaction.
The defendants then coordinated a phone or video call, using artificial intelligence to mimic the voice and sometimes the image of the chief executive. During those conversations, the impersonator directed staff to get in touch with an attorney at a major international law firm who was supposedly handling the transaction. In reality, members of the fraud network were waiting on the other end to pose as the legal counsel.
The bogus attorney would then instruct the employee to send substantial wire transfers to bank accounts set up across the world. Once the funds reached those accounts, the group quickly converted the cash into cryptocurrency to hide where the money came from and who controlled it before splitting the proceeds among themselves and their co-conspirators.
The suspects and their roles
Prosecutors identified the three defendants as Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42. The men, who come from Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, operated under several aliases.
Soall, who has ties to Spain and the U.K., used the names ‘Rocky Balboa’ and ‘Seba Clarke.’ Court records state that he primarily impersonated British attorneys and relied on a handwritten script titled ‘Lawyer Call’ to convince targeted employees that he was a legitimate lawyer.
Hazan, an Israeli national who used names including ‘Superman Cash,’ ‘Impossible Mission,’ ‘Fat Boy’ and ‘Ron,’ handled money laundering for the group. Prosecutors said Hazan boasted about laundering funds since 1994, claimed he moved more than $400 million in the past three years alone, and bragged that he was ‘number one all over the world’ among money launderers. Hazan was previously convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in the Southern District of New York in 2008.
Sheetrit, who is from Israel and the United Arab Emirates, also took part in laundering the stolen funds, according to court documents.
The victims and the charges
The group targeted businesses across a wide range of industries over more than a year and a half. Victimized organizations included hospital systems in California and Missouri, a bank in Rhode Island, an investment bank in New York, a financial technology company in the U.K., a mutual fund firm in Massachusetts and a pet food business in Florida.
All three defendants face seven federal charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering.
The news outlets reported differing maximum prison terms for the charges. NBC News reported that each of the seven counts carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. CBS News reported that the aggravated identity theft charges carry a maximum sentence of two years, while the wire fraud and money laundering charges carry up to 20 years.
Extradition and legal proceedings
In a press release, U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald noted the growing risk of technology in crime. “SI technology offers tremendous potential. But the public should recognize that there are some who seek to use this emerging technology to pursue criminal goals,” McDonald said, using super intelligence, the White House’s preferred term for artificial intelligence. FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said in a statement that federal investigators remain dedicated to adapting their capabilities to disrupt criminals who weaponize emerging technology.
Foreign authorities arrested the three defendants between June and September. Police took Soall into custody in Spain in June, arrested Hazan in Spain in August, and detained Sheetrit in the U.K. in September. Extradition requests to bring all three to the U.S. remain pending. Lawyers for Soall and Sheetrit didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment, and it wasn’t clear whether Hazan had legal representation.
