Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit face seven federal counts each in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors allege the trio exploited AI to mimic the voices and, at times, images of CEOs and lawyers, deceiving employees into authorizing large wire transfers. Soall, 41, of Marbella, Spain, and the United Kingdom; Hazan, 54, of Israel; and Sheetrit, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates, were arrested between June and September 2026 in Spain and the United Kingdom. Extradition requests are pending.
The alleged fraud scheme, which ran from July 2024 to February 2026, targeted thousands of companies globally. The defendants and their co-conspirators reportedly initiated contact with employees, often in accounting departments, via email, purporting to be the company's CEO and requesting assistance with a confidential financial transaction. They would then arrange phone or video calls where they used AI to clone the CEO's voice and sometimes their image, convincing the employee the transaction was legitimate.
Following the initial contact, the conspirators would direct the employee to communicate with an attorney, also impersonated through AI, who supposedly worked for a major international law firm. This fake attorney would then instruct the employee to wire substantial sums of money to bank accounts controlled by the criminal enterprise. Prosecutors state that the stolen funds were subsequently converted into cryptocurrency in an attempt to obscure their origin and ownership.
The indictment details several victims, including a Missouri hospital system that lost nearly $5 million, a Rhode Island bank defrauded of approximately $2.7 million, and a California hospital system from which about $3 million was stolen. A Massachusetts mutual fund lost over $4.6 million, and a Florida pet food company lost around $5 million. A UK-based financial technology company was also among the victims, losing over $11 million.
US Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York stated that the case demonstrates how advanced technology can be exploited for large-scale fraud, urging individuals and businesses to consider how to protect themselves from such emerging threats. Each of the wire fraud and money laundering charges carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while each aggravated identity theft count carries a maximum of two years. Hazan was previously convicted in 2008 in a New York court for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.