Three men charged with using AI to impersonate executives in $129 million fraud
Prosecutors say they mimicked CEOs and lawyers to get employees to wire money, and all three were arrested in Spain or Britain.
Three foreign nationals, Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, have been charged in New York with using artificial intelligence to pose as corporate executives and attorneys and steal more than $129 million from companies. An indictment was unsealed Thursday in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors say the scheme ran between 2024 and 2026.
The men allegedly posed as a CEO, asked an employee for help with a confidential financial transaction, and used AI to mimic the CEO's voice and sometimes image on calls. Employees were then passed to a supposed lawyer at a major law firm, also impersonated, who told them to wire large payments to accounts around the world. The money was then converted into cryptocurrency and shared, prosecutors say.
Alleged victims include hospital systems in Missouri and California, a Rhode Island bank, a UK financial technology company, a Massachusetts mutual fund company and a Florida pet food company. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain and Sheetrit in the UK, between June and September. Extradition requests are pending.
Each man faces seven counts, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. The US attorney's office says the defendants are presumed innocent.
- more than $129 millionalleged total stolen, by prosecutors' accountUPI
- more than $11.5 millionalleged loss at a UK financial technology companyUPI
- seven offensescharges each man faces, per the US attorney's officeUPI
- maximum sentence of 20 yearsmost charges, except aggravated identity theft (two years)CBS News
Three sides of the story
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Liberal2 outlets
AI-enabled impersonation fraud and the alleged victims' losses
The Guardian opens with a newly unsealed Justice Department indictment and says the men allegedly used AI to copy executives and attorneys to steal more than $129m worldwide. It lists alleged losses by victim, from nearly $5m at a Missouri hospital system to over $11m at a UK tech company, and gives the nicknames of Soall and Hazan, including "Superman Cash." It quotes FBI assistant director in charge James Barnacle Jr. saying criminals continue to "weaponize emerging technologies," and US attorney Jamie McDonald on AI's potential and criminal misuse.
CBS News runs the Associated Press report, which says prosecutors said Thursday that the three were indicted and that they targeted "thousands of companies" over more than a year and a half. It adds that lawyers for Soall and Sheetrit did not immediately respond, that extradition requests are pending, that Hazan was convicted in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and that the maximum sentence is 20 years, or two for aggravated identity theft.
Center2 outlets
What prosecutors say each defendant did
UPI reports from the US attorney's press release that each man is charged with seven offenses, and lists the alleged losses by victim, such as more than $4.8 million from a Missouri hospital system and $5.2 million from a Florida pet food company. It quotes McDonald urging individuals and businesses to consider how to protect themselves from the "emerging threat of [AI]-enabled crime." Courthouse News centers on the indictment's account of the method, quoting prosecutors that the purported transactions were "a sham."
It says the men posed as at least seven executives, gives each man's alleged role, and says prosecutors say Hazan boasted he was "number one all over the world" at money laundering. It notes it is not immediately clear which companies or law firms were involved, and says McDonald used the term "super intelligence," which it calls President Trump's preferred term for AI. It places the case beside an earlier AI fraud case in the same court.
Conservative2 outlets
The indictment's detail and prosecutors' own statements
Townhall's headline calls it an alleged $129M scheme to impersonate CEOs "With Superintelligence," and its report follows the US attorney's release closely. It gives McDonald's statement with "SI" in place of AI, and the exact victim amounts, such as $4,829,580 from a Missouri hospital system. It also lists the arrest dates: June 17 for Soall, Aug. 5 for Hazan and Sept. 7 for Sheetrit.
It gives the maximum sentence for each charge, Hazan's claim of laundering over $400 million in three years, and the release's reminder that charges are accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent. The New York Post runs the Associated Press report, headlined "3 charged in AI scheme used to impersonate CEOs, attorneys to steal $129 million." It says the defendants often targeted accounting departments, that Soall used a handwritten "Lawyer Call" script, and that Hazan was convicted in 2008.
- Centrist outlets did not mentionHazan was convicted in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud Reported by CBS News, Townhall, New York Post
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All sources: 6 articles from 6 outlets
Liberal (2)
- CBS News: 3 charged with using AI to steal some $129 million from companies
- The Guardian: Three men charged in US with using AI to impersonate CEOs and steal millions
Center (2)
- Courthouse News: Trio charged with impersonating CEOs using AI to steal millions from top companies
- UPI: 3 charged with using AI to commit $129 million in fraud
Conservative (2)
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