Three individuals have been indicted for allegedly using artificial intelligence (AI) to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys, resulting in approximately $129 million in stolen funds. The indictment was announced by prosecutors on Thursday and was filed in a U.S. District Court located in New York.
The accused—Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42—are said to have executed their scheme over a period exceeding eighteen months, targeting thousands of companies globally. Their victims reportedly include a variety of organizations, such as hospital systems in Missouri and California, a bank in Rhode Island, a financial technology company in the United Kingdom, a mutual fund company in Massachusetts, and a pet food company in Florida.
Originating from Spain, the UK, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates, the defendants have also been charged with money laundering as per the details outlined in the indictment. Despite attempts to reach them, lawyers for Soall and Sheetrit have not provided comments, and the status of legal representation for Hazan remains unclear. Additionally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has not responded to inquiries from the press.
The arrests of the three individuals took place between June and September. Notably, Hazan has a prior conviction for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which was handed down by a New York court in 2008.
The trio is reported to have adopted various nicknames, including "Rocky Balboa," "Superman Cash," and "Fat Boy." Their primary targets included the accounting departments of various companies, where they would send emails impersonating a CEO and requesting assistance for a confidential financial transaction. Furthermore, they organized phone or video calls utilizing AI technology to replicate the voice and sometimes the image of the CEO, as per the court documents.
During these calls, they instructed employees to get in touch with an attorney from a well-known law firm, whom the fraudsters were prepared to impersonate. Soall often took on the role of these attorneys from the UK, even employing a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call" to convincingly portray himself as a legitimate attorney while engaging with victims.
The impersonated attorney directed company employees to wire significant amounts of money to bank accounts located worldwide. Subsequently, the misappropriated funds were converted into cryptocurrency to obscure their origins, before being distributed among the trio and other accomplices involved in the scheme, according to court records.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. emphasized the implications of the case, highlighting how advanced technology can be exploited to carry out extensive fraud. He reaffirmed the FBI's dedication to evolving its capabilities to identify, investigate, and disrupt fraudulent activities that jeopardize New Yorkers and the businesses operating within their communities.
If the defendants are convicted, the maximum sentence for each charge could reach 20 years, with the exception of aggravated identity theft, which carries a two-year sentence, as indicated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
