Three charged in New York over AI fraud that stole 129 million dollars

Three people have been indicted in New York on charges of using artificial intelligence to impersonate chief executives and attorneys, extracting about $129 million from companies across the world. Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, face wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering counts in federal court in New York. All three were arrested between June and September.

The scheme ran for more than a year and a half and targeted thousands of companies, working through their accounting departments. Employees received an email that appeared to come from the chief executive, asking for help with a confidential financial transaction. A call followed in which the defendants used AI to mimic the CEO's voice and sometimes image. The employee was then told to contact an attorney at a major law firm — whom the group was equally prepared to impersonate — and the 'attorney' instructed the employee to wire large payments to bank accounts around the world. The funds were converted into cryptocurrency to conceal their origin before being distributed among the trio and others.

The victims named by prosecutors include hospital systems in Missouri and California, a bank in Rhode Island, a financial technology company in Britain, a mutual fund company in Massachusetts and a pet food company in Florida. The defendants, residents of Spain, Britain, Israel and the United Arab Emirates, went by the nicknames 'Rocky Balboa,' 'Superman Cash' and 'Fat Boy.' For all the technology involved, one defendant brought older experience: Hazan was convicted in a New York court in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

The FBI's statement, from Assistant Director James C. Barnacle, Jr., said the case shows how advanced technology can be used to commit large-scale fraud, and pledged the bureau would keep adapting as criminals weaponize emerging tools. Nothing in the charges describes a technical breach of any victim's systems. The instruments were a synthetic voice, the name of a major law firm and an accounting employee with authority to move money on the strength of both. The case docket was still listed as sealed in online court records Thursday evening, and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York did not respond to a voicemail left by the Associated Press.

Each fraud and laundering count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, the identity-theft counts two. Soall's aid for passing as a British attorney was a handwritten script titled 'Lawyer Call.'