The United States Department of Justice has indicted three foreign nationals accused of running an international fraud scheme that used artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate chief executives and attorneys at major law firms, according to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. The scheme allegedly stole more than $129 million from companies around the world between July 2024 and February 2026.
Prosecutors say the operation targeted accounting staff, telling them they were needed for a confidential financial transaction. The suspects allegedly used AI to mimic a chief executive's voice, then passed the employee to supposed outside counsel — who were also part of the scheme — before instructing the transfer of large sums to bank accounts set up worldwide. The money was then converted into cryptocurrency, which investigators say was meant to hide its source, ownership and control.
Who was charged in the AI impersonation case
The indictment names Jacob Soall, who used the aliases "Rocky Balboa" and "Seba Clarke" and was arrested in Spain in June; Sharon Hazan, known by the nicknames "Superman Cash," "Impossible Mission," "Fat Boy" and "Ron," arrested in Spain in August; and Guy Sheetrit, arrested in the United Kingdom in September.
According to the U.S. attorney's office, Soall, who has ties to Spain and the U.K., posed as British attorneys and relied on a script titled "Lawyer Call" to sound convincing during conversations with victims. Prosecutors describe the three as participants in a wider conspiracy with additional co-conspirators who have not been named.
How the AI voice and image scheme worked
The sequence prosecutors describe is a layered social-engineering play: first, an urgent and confidential request from a familiar voice; second, an apparent legal authority to reassure the employee; third, a payment instruction that arrives with enough procedural detail to feel routine. AI voice and image tools, according to the indictment, supplied the realism at the first step and made the fake CEO hard to question over the phone.
