Overview
- A Manhattan indictment unsealed Thursday charges Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering for an alleged scheme that stole about $129 million.
- Prosecutors say the defendants used AI to mimic CEOs’ voices and sometimes images in calls and then impersonated law‑firm lawyers to convince accounting staff to wire funds to accounts they controlled.
- The indictment lists specific multi‑million dollar losses to hospitals, a bank, a fintech firm, a mutual fund company and a pet food company and says the scheme ran from July 2024 through February 2026.
- Authorities allege the group routed proceeds through international bank accounts and converted them into cryptocurrency to obscure the money’s origin before distributing it to conspirators.
- All three suspects were arrested in Europe between June and September and are awaiting extradition to the U.S., a case officials say highlights how emerging AI tools can be weaponized and strain cross‑border investigations.