Three foreign nationals have been arrested and charged with using AI to pose as corporate CEOs and lawyers to steal more than $100 million, according to an indictment recently unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, three men – Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit – were arrested for using AI to alter and impersonate the voices and images of executives and lawyers at various companies in order to convince employees to send large payments. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain over the summer, while Sheetrit was arrested in the UK in September. The alleged fraud took place between 2024 and 2026.
With the help of AI, the men allegedly acted as corporate executives, targeting employees of various companies and telling them they needed their help with sensitive financial transactions. They would then ask employees to contact lawyers at a large international law firm. The men then posed as a lawyer from these firms and asked the employees to wire a large sum of money.
According to the DoJ, the men ultimately stole more than $129 million from companies around the world, including in the United States. Men allegedly stole nearly $5 million from hospital system headquartered in Missouri; about $2.7 million from a Rhode Island bank, about $3 million from a California hospital system, more than $4.6 million from a mutual fund headquartered in Massachusetts and about $5 million from a pet food company in Florida. The men also stole more than $11 million from a British technology company.
The men directed employees to wire money to bank accounts around the world, including the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China. Once the money was transferred, the men transformed it into cryptocurrency “in an effort to conceal the source, ownership, and control of the stolen proceeds and distribute it among themselves and their co-conspirators,” according to the Justice Department press release. Soall and Hazan used several aliases: Soal’s nicknames included “Seba Clarke” and “Rocky Balboa”, while Hazan went by “Superman Cash”, “Fat Boy” and “Ron”.
In a statement, Jamie McDonald, a U.S. attorney, said artificial intelligence has great potential, but the public should recognize that some may seek to use the technology for criminal purposes.
“The alleged scheme orchestrated by Soall, Hazan and Sheetrit demonstrates how the use of advanced technology can be exploited to commit large-scale fraud,” James C Barnacle Jr, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI, said in a statement. “As criminals continue to weaponize emerging technologies, the FBI remains committed to quickly adapting its capabilities to identify, investigate and disrupt those who seek to harm New Yorkers and businesses operating in our communities.”
The men were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, various counts of money laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft.
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