Three indicted in alleged AI impersonation scheme prosecutors say took $129 million

As of 10:55 p.m. ET, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026

Three men have been indicted in federal court in Manhattan on charges that they used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and lawyers and trick company employees into wiring away more than $129 million, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said.

The indictment, unsealed Thursday, Nov. 5, charges Jacob Soall, 41, of Marbella, Spain, and the United Kingdom; Sharon Hazan, 54, of Israel; and Guy Sheetrit, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates, prosecutors said. Each faces seven counts: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering.

Soall was arrested in Spain on June 17, Hazan in Spain on Aug. 5 and Sheetrit in the United Kingdom on Sept. 7, according to the office. Requests to extradite all three to the United States are pending. The office said the charges "are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty." GROKsiNEWS.com did not find public statements from lawyers for the men.

How prosecutors say the scheme worked

Between 2024 and 2026, the men and their co-conspirators used AI to mimic "the voices and/or images" of corporate executives and of attorneys at major law firms, according to the indictment as described by prosecutors. The office's release uses the term "super intelligence," or "SI," for the technology.

Prosecutors allege the group typically contacted an employee while posing as the company's chief executive, said help was needed on a confidential financial transaction, and used AI to imitate the CEO's voice or image on calls. The employee was then steered to people presented as lawyers at large international firms — also impersonated, prosecutors say — and one of those "lawyers" would direct a large wire transfer to an account the conspirators controlled.

Courthouse News Service reported that the government says the men posed as at least seven high-profile executives and that the supposed deal was often a corporate acquisition. The release does not name the victim companies.

Alleged victims and money trail

According to the release, the alleged victims include six it described by location and industry, which together account for about $31.9 million of the more than $129 million total: a Missouri-based hospital system ($4,829,580), a Rhode Island-based bank ($2,684,580), a California-based hospital system ($2,968,497), a U.K.-based financial technology company ($11,578,474), a Massachusetts-based mutual fund company ($4,639,918) and a Florida-based pet food company ($5,242,747).

Money was sent to accounts in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia and China, then converted to cryptocurrency to hide its source and divided among the conspirators, prosecutors allege.

Prosecutors say Soall mainly posed as U.K. attorneys and kept a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call," including language meant to keep employees from discussing the calls with colleagues. They allege Hazan and Sheetrit laundered proceeds, and that Hazan boasted of laundering money since 1994 and called himself "number one all over the world" among professional launderers. Hazan was convicted in the same court in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, the office said.

Why it matters

Prosecutors presented the case as a warning to companies about fraud that uses AI-cloned voices and faces.

"As alleged, Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit abused groundbreaking super intelligence technology to impersonate real people and deceive corporate executives into sending them and their co-conspirators approximately $129 million," U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said. He urged businesses "to consider how to best protect themselves from the emerging threat of SI-enabled crime."

FBI New York Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. said the case "demonstrates how the use of advanced technology can be exploited to commit large scale fraud."

The wire fraud and money laundering counts each carry a maximum of 20 years in prison, and each aggravated identity theft count carries a maximum of two years, the office said; any sentence would be set by a judge. The FBI asked anyone who believes they were a victim to use its tips page at tips.fbi.gov.