Federal prosecutors have accused three men of using an AI impersonation scheme to steal more than $129 million from companies across the United States and Europe. An indictment unsealed last week alleges that the defendants posed as chief executives and lawyers to persuade employees to transfer company funds. The alleged operation combined executive impersonation with legal-sounding demands for secrecy, giving fraudulent instructions the appearance of authority. Its reported victims included hospital systems, financial businesses and a pet food company. The central accusation is not simply that artificial intelligence produced convincing imitations, but that those imitations helped turn employees into unwitting participants in fraudulent transfers.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged Jacob Soall, 41, of Marbella, Spain, and Britain; Sharon Hazan, 54, of Israel; and Guy Sheetrit, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. They face charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. Soall was arrested in Spain, Hazan in Israel and Sheetrit in Britain, with arrests unfolding over several months starting in June. All three are awaiting extradition to the United States. The charges are allegations, not findings of guilt, and the defendants’ individual responsibility remains a matter for court proceedings.
How the AI Impersonation Scheme Allegedly Worked
Prosecutors say the operation ran for roughly 18 months starting in July 2024 and used a recurring approach. An employee, often an accountant or finance manager, would receive an email that appeared to come from a company executive. The message would draw that employee into a conversation involving a supposed lawyer. In an October 2024 example involving a major investment bank in New York City, an employee was asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement and call the purported attorney. That sequence allegedly gave a fraudulent request the outward shape of confidential corporate business.
The defendants allegedly borrowed the names of real attorneys at actual law firms, frequently choosing names from among the 50 largest firms in the world. Prosecutors also say Soall kept a handwritten script titled “Lawyer Call” to guide conversations with victims. The script used regulatory language and warnings about insider trading risk to justify secrecy and discourage employees from discussing the calls with colleagues. Investigators say the conspirators also tried to bring employees into video calls using deepfakes of chief executives. The alleged deception therefore went beyond a false email or an unfamiliar voice: it sought to reinforce a fabricated story through several forms of apparent authority.
Secrecy Was Part of the Alleged Trap
The demand for confidentiality is an important part of the prosecutors’ account. A request that appears to come from a senior executive may already put pressure on an employee to comply. Adding a supposed lawyer and a warning about insider trading could make consultation with colleagues seem improper rather than prudent. That is the practical danger illustrated by the alleged script: ordinary caution can be recast as a legal risk. The indictment’s allegations describe an effort to use corporate rules and professional credentials against the employees expected to respect them.
The businesses identified in the indictment show the range of the alleged losses. They include a regional hospital system in Missouri, which lost $4.8 million, and a British financial technology company, which lost $11.6 million. A pet food company in Florida lost $5 million, while a hospital system in California lost $3 million. A mutual fund company in Massachusetts lost $4.7 million, and a bank based in Rhode Island lost $2.7 million. Those figures describe losses at named categories of victims, but they do not establish what effect the missing money had on patients, customers or employees.
The common thread is the alleged targeting of people with access to company finances, rather than businesses in a single industry. Hospitals, a pet food company and financial institutions have different missions, yet all need employees to carry out legitimate payment instructions. Prosecutors allege that the defendants exploited that shared function by making fraudulent instructions look authentic. The AI element matters because investigators say the operation included voice impersonation and attempted executive deepfake calls. But the broader alleged tactic was familiar in its basic purpose: persuade someone that a person with authority had ordered a payment.
Following the Money, and the Unanswered Questions
After victims transferred funds, prosecutors say the money moved through accounts controlled by the conspirators in Austria, China, Greece, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the United States. It was then allegedly converted into cryptocurrency to obscure its source and ownership before being divided. Hazan and Sheetrit are accused of laundering proceeds, and Hazan allegedly bragged about laundering more than $400 million over the past three years. That alleged boast is separate from the more than $129 million attributed to this scheme and should not be treated as a proven total. Prosecutors also identified aliases, including “Rocky Balboa” for Soall and “Superman Cash” and “Fat Boy” for Hazan.
With the defendants awaiting extradition, the next legal question is how the charges will be addressed in the United States. The account does not establish whether the stolen funds have been recovered or how the defendants will respond to the allegations. For businesses, the case highlights a problem that cannot be reduced to whether an imitation looks or sounds convincing. The alleged operation paired artificial intelligence with borrowed legal identities and instructions designed to prevent internal discussion. Its significance lies in that combination: apparent authority becomes especially dangerous when employees are also told not to check it with anyone else.
Source: Breitbart News