The key facts
- The defendants are Jacob Soall (41), Sharon Hazan (54), and Guy Shetrit (42); charges include fraud, identity theft, and money laundering
- The scheme involved fake calls with AI-faked voices and appearances of CEOs and 'lawyers' played by the fraudsters themselves
- Among the victims are a fintech company (which lost about $11.6 million) and a pet food manufacturer (more than $5.2 million)
Charges have been filed
Three men are accused of stealing about $129 million from companies in the United States and other countries using artificial intelligence. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has charged them with fraud, identity theft, and money laundering, as reported by the US Department of Justice, writes Life.ru.
How the scheme worked
The defendants are 41-year-old Jacob Soall, 54-year-old Sharon Hazan, and 42-year-old Guy Shetrit. The first two used, among others, the nicknames Rocky Balboa and Superman Cash, while Hazan also called himself Fatso. According to the investigation, from 2024 to 2026 the suspects posed as company executives and law firm employees: they wrote to companies' accounting departments on behalf of CEOs requesting confidential transfers, and then arranged calls in which AI faked the executives' voices and appearances. Employees were then directed to 'lawyers' of international companies, roles played by the scheme's participants themselves.
Victims and scale of losses
Among the victims are medical institutions, a bank, an investment fund, a fintech company, and a pet food manufacturer. The British fintech company lost about $11.6 million, and the American pet food maker more than $5.2 million. The stolen funds were deposited into accounts in various countries and then converted into cryptocurrency to conceal their origin.
Arrests and the prosecution's position
Soall was arrested in Spain on June 17, Hazan in the same country on August 5, and Shetrit in the United Kingdom on September 7; the US is seeking their extradition. Under individual counts, the men face up to 20 years in prison; their guilt must be determined by a court. Federal prosecutor Jay MacDonald stated that 'artificial intelligence technologies open up enormous opportunities,' but warned that they can be used for criminal purposes and urged companies to take such threats into account.
Context: AI in major cybercrimes
The case came to light against the backdrop of another high-profile incident: as Life.ru previously reported, on October 29, 2026, the largest hack of the Binance crypto exchange occurred, in which hackers stole digital assets worth approximately $6.3 billion. According to the outlet, the attackers prepared for several months and used fake job interviews, malware, and compromised AI tools; the FBI attributed the attack to the TraderTraitor group linked to North Korea. What the two cases have in common is that both involve artificial intelligence tools; however, these are separate investigations, and the investigation has not claimed any connection between them.
