US federal prosecutors have charged three foreign nationals, including two Israelis, over an alleged $129 million international fraud scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and lawyers, deceiving employees into transferring funds to accounts controlled by the suspects and their associates.
The indictment, unsealed in New York on November 5, alleges that Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, targeted businesses in the United States and overseas between 2024 and 2026. The case highlights the financial risks facing companies as AI-generated voices and images make fraudulent payment instructions more difficult to distinguish from legitimate requests.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the suspects and their alleged co-conspirators typically approached employees in accounting and finance departments while posing as senior executives seeking assistance with confidential transactions.
Prosecutors said the group used AI-generated voices and, in some cases, images to impersonate company chief executives during telephone or video calls. Employees were then directed to contact supposed attorneys at major international law firms, whose identities were also impersonated to reinforce the legitimacy of the transactions.
The alleged conspirators subsequently instructed employees to transfer large sums to bank accounts under their control. Once the payments were completed, the funds were converted into cryptocurrency in an attempt to conceal their origin and ownership before being distributed among members of the group.
The scheme allegedly resulted in losses exceeding $129 million across companies in the United States and other countries. Among the victims identified by prosecutors were a British financial technology company that lost approximately $11.6 million, a Florida pet food company that lost $5.2 million and a Missouri hospital system that transferred $4.8 million.
Other reported losses included approximately $4.6 million from a Massachusetts mutual fund company, $3 million from a California hospital system and $2.7 million from a Rhode Island bank.
Prosecutors said the stolen money was directed to accounts in several countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Slovakia, Singapore, China and the United States, illustrating the international reach of the alleged operation.
Soall, a Spanish-British national based in Marbella, allegedly played a central role in impersonating lawyers. Investigators said he maintained a handwritten script designed to make his conversations sound authentic and discourage employees from discussing the transactions with colleagues.
Hazan, an Israeli national, and Sheetrit, who holds Israeli and Emirati nationality, are accused of participating in laundering proceeds from the scheme. Prosecutors alleged that Hazan claimed to have laundered more than $400 million over the preceding three years, although that figure was not presented as an independently established amount linked to the charged operation.
The three men were arrested separately in Europe. Soall was detained in Spain on June 17, Hazan in Spain on August 5 and Sheetrit in the United Kingdom on September 7, according to the Justice Department. US authorities said extradition requests remained pending when the indictment was announced.
All three face seven charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering.
The wire fraud and money laundering offences each carry a maximum potential prison sentence of 20 years, while each aggravated identity theft count carries a two-year maximum. Any sentence would be determined by a court following conviction.
Lawyers representing Sheetrit denied the allegations, describing him as a businessman with extensive professional experience in cybersecurity and technology. In comments published by The Record from Recorded Future News on November 9, his lawyers said that providing cybersecurity expertise or advisory services did not, by itself, establish involvement in the alleged conduct.
The case highlights how conventional corporate payment fraud can be reinforced by synthetic audio and video, allowing criminals to exploit employees’ trust in familiar executives and established legal advisers.
For businesses, the alleged scheme underscores the risks of relying on apparently authentic calls, confidential instructions or executive identities when authorising large financial transfers, particularly where payments involve unfamiliar beneficiaries or cross-border accounts.
The FBI said the investigation demonstrated how emerging technologies could be exploited to commit large-scale fraud and pledged to continue adapting its investigative capabilities to identify and disrupt such operations.
The charges remain allegations, and all three defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
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