DOJ charges trio with AI-powered CEO and lawyer deepfakes in $129 million fraud scheme

Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging three foreign nationals with orchestrating an AI-enabled fraud that netted more than $129 million from companies worldwide between 2024 and 2026. The defendants—Jacob Soall and Sharon Hazan, arrested in Spain, and Guy Sheetrit, arrested in the U.K.—allegedly used voice- and image-cloning tools to impersonate corporate chiefs and outside counsel, directing employees to wire large sums to accounts they controlled, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
Victims included a Missouri hospital system, a Rhode Island bank, a California hospital network, a Massachusetts mutual fund, a Florida pet-food maker and a U.K. technology firm, authorities said. After the transfers, the funds were routed through banks across multiple countries and converted into cryptocurrency to obscure their origin. The case highlights a growing wave of AI-driven impersonation schemes that mimic executives and professionals with increasing realism. The men face charges including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money-laundering conspiracy and aggravated identity theft. “As criminals continue to weaponize emerging technologies,” an FBI official said, the bureau is adapting to disrupt these schemes.

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