Key points
- Three men have been charged in New York over an alleged scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate chief executives and lawyers and stole more than $129 million from companies worldwide, US prosecutors say.
- The indictment, unsealed on Thursday in Manhattan, says thousands of companies were targeted between July 2024 and February 2026.
- Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, were arrested in Spain and Britain between June and September; extradition requests are pending.
- Each faces seven charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. The charges are allegations, and the men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Three men have been charged in the United States over an alleged fraud in which artificial intelligence was used to impersonate company chief executives and lawyers, persuading employees to wire more than $129 million to accounts controlled by the group. The indictment was unsealed on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, the US Department of Justice said, and the Associated Press reported the charges the same day. Read more: Seven arrested and more than 100 servers seized as police across Europe strike at suspected fake-investment network
Prosecutors say the men used what the indictment calls "super intelligence" to copy the voices and, in some cases, the faces of executives at the companies they targeted, and of lawyers at large international law firms. An employee would first be contacted by someone pretending to be the company's chief executive, who would describe a confidential financial transaction and ask for help. The employee would then be put in touch with supposed lawyers working on the deal — also impersonated — and one of them would ultimately direct the employee to wire a large sum to an account the group controlled, the Justice Department said.
How the scheme worked
Once a company had wired the money, the group converted it into cryptocurrency in an attempt to hide where it came from and who controlled it, prosecutors say. The accounts that received the money were spread across the world, including in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China, according to the indictment.
The three men played different parts, prosecutors say. Jacob Soall mainly impersonated lawyers from the United Kingdom, and kept a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call" that he used to sound like a real attorney when speaking to victims — including language designed to convince employees not to discuss the calls with their colleagues. Sharon Hazan, prosecutors say, laundered the proceeds, and boasted that he had been laundering money since 1994, that he had laundered more than $400 million in just the past three years, and that he was "number one all over the world" among professional money launderers. Guy Sheetrit also laundered funds from the scheme, prosecutors say.
The victims named
The indictment names six of the victims and the sums they lost: a hospital system in Missouri lost $4,829,580; a bank in Rhode Island lost $2,684,580; a hospital system in California lost $2,968,497; a financial technology company in the United Kingdom lost $11,578,474; a mutual fund company in Massachusetts lost $4,639,918; and a pet food company in Florida lost $5,242,747. Prosecutors say thousands of companies were targeted over more than a year and a half, and that the total taken exceeded $129 million.
Arrests and extradition
Soall was arrested in Spain on 17 June, Hazan was arrested in Spain on 5 August, and Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom on 7 September, the Justice Department said. Extradition requests for all three are pending. The department thanked the FBI, Spain's Policía Nacional and the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency for their help in the arrests.
What the charges carry
Each of the three men faces seven counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of money laundering. The wire fraud and money laundering counts each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; aggravated identity theft carries two years. Hazan was previously convicted in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in 2008, the Justice Department said.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald said the case should warn businesses about the new threat. "SI technology offers tremendous potential. But the public should recognize that there are some who seek to use this emerging technology to pursue criminal goals," he said. The charges in the indictment are only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. The FBI has asked anyone who believes they may have been a victim to report it through its online tips page.
The key figures
| Measure | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Total allegedly stolen | More than $129 million | US Department of Justice |
| Companies targeted | Thousands | US Department of Justice |
| Largest named victim (UK financial technology company) | $11,578,474 | US Department of Justice |
| Missouri hospital system | $4,829,580 | US Department of Justice |
| Massachusetts mutual fund company | $4,639,918 | US Department of Justice |
| Florida pet food company | $5,242,747 | US Department of Justice |
| California hospital system | $2,968,497 | US Department of Justice |
| Rhode Island bank | $2,684,580 | US Department of Justice |
| Arrests | Soall 17 June 2026 (Spain); Hazan 5 August 2026 (Spain); Sheetrit 7 September 2026 (UK) | US Department of Justice |
| Maximum sentence, wire fraud and money laundering counts | 20 years each | US Department of Justice |
Updates & corrections
Published 6 November 2026.
The charges are allegations in an indictment unsealed on 5 November 2026; the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Extradition requests were pending at the time of publication. No corrections have been made.
Sources
- US Department of Justice, Southern District of New York, Three Foreign Nationals Arrested And Charged With Scheme To Use Super Intelligence To Defraud Companies Of $129 Million, 5 November 2026, on the indictment, the scheme, the named victims and amounts, the arrests and extradition requests, the seven charges and maximum sentences, and Hazan's 2008 conviction: justice.gov
- Associated Press, via Korea Times, 3 charged in scheme to use AI to impersonate CEOs, attorneys to steal $129 mil., 6 November 2026, on the charges being announced on Thursday, the arrests between June and September, and the scheme running for more than a year and a half: koreatimes.co.kr
- Times of Israel, 3 charged, including 2 Israelis, for using AI impersonations to steal $129 million, 6 November 2026, on the defendants' citizenships, the arrests in Spain and Britain, and the pending extradition requests: timesofisrael.com
- Ynet, Fake CEOs, stolen millions: two Israelis charged in $129 million AI fraud scheme, 6 November 2026, on the indictment being unsealed on Thursday in Manhattan, the "Lawyer Call" script, and Hazan's alleged boast about laundering more than $400 million: ynetnews.com