Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged three people with using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate chief executives and attorneys in a scheme they say took about $129 million from companies, The Associated Press reported Thursday. The case shows how voice and video cloning can defeat a control many finance departments still lean on: a call to confirm that a payment request really comes from the boss.
What Happened
An indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in New York charges Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering, the AP reported. Courthouse News Service reported that each faces seven counts. The charges are allegations; none of the three has been convicted.
Prosecutors say the group targeted thousands of companies worldwide over more than a year and a half, often going after accounting staff, the AP reported. An email that appeared to come from the CEO sought help with a confidential transaction. A phone or video call followed in which AI mimicked the executive's voice and sometimes appearance. Employees were then sent to an impersonated attorney at a major law firm, who told them to wire large sums to accounts around the world. The money was converted to cryptocurrency to hide its origin, prosecutors say. The AP reported that Soall mostly played British attorneys, working from a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call."
Victims described by the AP include hospital systems in Missouri and California, a Rhode Island bank, a U.K. financial technology company, a Massachusetts mutual fund company and a Florida pet food company. Courthouse News, citing the government's account, reported that at least seven senior executives were impersonated. It listed three losses: more than $11.5 million from the U.K. fintech in March 2025, more than $4.6 million from the mutual fund company in April 2025 and more than $5.2 million from the pet food company in June 2025.
Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain in June and August, and Sheetrit in the U.K. in September, Courthouse News reported, and extradition requests are pending. U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said the defendants "abused groundbreaking super intelligence technology to impersonate real people," Courthouse News reported, using the administration's term for AI.
Why It Matters
Business email compromise, in which criminals pose as executives or suppliers by email to redirect payments, is a long-running fraud. This scheme, as prosecutors describe it, adds two layers: a live cloned call that answers the usual "call to confirm" check, and a fake outside lawyer who lends the request legal weight and a reason for secrecy.
For boards and finance chiefs, the lesson is that no voice or video call, however convincing, should authorize a wire on its own. Stronger controls include calling back on a number already on file, requiring a second approver for large or unusual transfers, and training finance staff to treat secrecy or pressure to skip normal process as a warning sign.
The stakes can be personal, too. The Primary Wire reported in October that a German appeals court held a treasury chief personally liable for millions sent to fraudsters posing as his bosses, a ruling now under appeal.
What to Watch
The indictment landed the same day the Justice Department announced a Super Intelligence Task Force to coordinate its AI enforcement, as The Primary Wire reported. In this case, watch the extradition proceedings in Spain and the U.K., whether later filings name the victim companies or impersonated law firms, and whether others who the AP says shared in the money are charged.
