Three men allegedly used artificial intelligence to imitate the voices, and sometimes the faces, of chief executives and lawyers at major law firms, persuading company employees to transfer more than $129 million. The indictment was made public on Thursday, November 5, by federal prosecutors in New York, according to Infobae.
The accused. The defendants are Jacob Soall, 41, who lives in Marbella, Spain, and in the United Kingdom; Sharon Hazan, 54, of Israel; and Guy Sheetrit, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Each faces seven counts, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.
Thousands of targets. According to the indictment, the scheme ran from July 2024 to February 2026 and targeted thousands of companies worldwide. The largest single loss was nearly $11.6 million at a British fintech firm. A Florida pet food maker lost $5.2 million, a Missouri hospital system about $4.8 million, a Massachusetts fund manager $4.6 million, a California hospital system almost $3 million and a Rhode Island bank around $2.7 million.
Email, call, fake lawyer. Prosecutors say the group sought out employees able to authorise large transfers, usually in accounting. A first email, sent via an e-signature platform, came from the supposed CEO asking for help with a confidential financial transaction and demanding a non-disclosure agreement. Then came a call or video call using AI to reproduce the executive's voice and, in some cases, image. At least seven different executives were impersonated, often under the pretext of an acquisition.
Money moved to crypto. The employee was then passed to an alleged lawyer from one of the world's 50 largest firms, also an impostor, who instructed them to wire money to accounts controlled by the group in the US, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the UAE, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China. The funds were converted into cryptocurrency and shared out, the indictment says.
Roles and defence. Prosecutors attribute the fake-lawyer role to Soall; investigators found a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call" designed to stop staff from consulting colleagues. Hazan allegedly laundered the money and boasted of moving over $400 million in three years; he was convicted in New York in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Sheetrit, an SEO entrepreneur, is also accused of laundering; his lawyers told CyberScoop he has no connection to the case and maintains his innocence.
Why it matters
AI meets CEO fraud. US Attorney Jamie McDonald of the Southern District of New York said the public must recognise that some seek to use this emerging technology for crime, urging people and businesses to think about how to protect themselves. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain in June and August, and Sheetrit in the UK in September; US extradition requests are pending.
- Verify any urgent transfer request through a known, independent channel.
- Treat secrecy demands and NDAs around payments as a red flag.
- Require dual approval for large or unusual wires.
- Remember a familiar voice or face on a call is no longer proof of identity.
Source: Infobae / DOJ EE. UU.
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