Federal prosecutors have issued an indictment against three foreign nationals for their alleged roles in a sprawling corporate impersonation network that utilized generative AI to steal from global businesses. The US Department of Justice named Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit as the defendants, who are charged with wire fraud and money laundering for using fake voices and images to deceive employees into transferring $129 million to fraudulent accounts. The suspects have been arrested in the UK and Spain and are currently awaiting extradition to the United States.
The victims of the scheme included two US hospital systems and a UK fintech firm that lost $11.6 million. According to prosecutors, the defendants posed as CEOs and attorneys from international law firms, using a handwritten script titled “Lawyer Call” to discourage staff from alerting coworkers about the transactions. Once the money was transferred, the group routed the funds through international accounts and converted them into cryptocurrency to obscure the trail.