Three Men Charged in US Over Alleged AI Impersonation Fraud
Three men have been charged in the United States over an alleged scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and lawyers, according to a newly unsealed indictment, the formal set of charges that a court has made public. The men are Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit, and The Guardian reported that they were charged with using AI to steal over $100m.
Prosecutors allege the men used AI to alter and impersonate the voices and images of executives and attorneys. The aim, according to the charges, was to convince employees to send large payments. The men allegedly posed as a corporate executive seeking help with a sensitive financial transaction, then directed employees to contact lawyers at a large international law firm. They then allegedly impersonated a lawyer to have the employees wire large sums.
Money was allegedly sent to bank accounts in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China. According to the US Department of Justice, the men then converted the money into cryptocurrency, a digital currency, to conceal its source, ownership and control. They distributed it among themselves and co-conspirators, the department said.
The Justice Department said the men stole more than $129m from companies around the world, including in the United States. Among the alleged losses it listed were about $4.8m from a hospital system headquartered in Missouri, about $2.7m from a bank in Rhode Island, about $3m from a hospital system in California and more than $11.5m from a financial technology company in the United Kingdom. PBS NewsHour reported that the scheme targeted thousands of companies. The alleged conduct took place between 2024 and 2026.
Soall was arrested in Spain on June 17, 2026, and Hazan was arrested in Spain on August 5, 2026. Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2026. Extradition requests for all three men are pending. Extradition is the process by which one country surrenders a person to another to face prosecution there.
The men have been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which covers schemes to cheat people or companies using electronic communications, as well as money-laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. The unsealing was announced by Jamie McDonald, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and James C. Barnacle Jr., assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field office.
