3 foreign nationals allegedly used AI to mimic CEOs in $129M scheme, DOJ says

Three foreign nationals have been charged in connection with an alleged international fraud scheme that federal prosecutors say used AI technology to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys and steal more than $129 million.According to an indictment filed with the U.S.Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Jacob Soall, who went by “Rocky Balboa” and “Seba Clarke,” was arrested in Spain in June; Sharon Hazan, who used the nicknames “Superman Cash,” “Impossible Mission,” “Fat Boy” and “Ron,” was arrested in Spain in August; and Guy Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom in September.All three are accused of participating in a scheme that ran from July 2024 to February 2026 involving the use of artificial intelligence to impersonate the voices and images of corporate executives and attorneys at major law firms to trick employees of several companies into transferring large sums of money to bank accounts controlled by the group, according to a press release from the U.S.

attorney’s office.The trio and their co-conspirators would tell these employees — typically in accounting departments — they needed help with a confidential financial transaction and would use AI technology to mimic the company CEO’s voice, according to the press release.Then, while pretending to be the CEO, they would tell employees to contact attorneys at large international law firms who they said were also working on the transactions, but in reality, those “attorneys” were also part of the scheme, prosecutors said.Finally, one of the people involved in the scheme would instruct the employee to wire large amounts of money to bank accounts set up worldwide, according to the press release.Once the employee wired the money, the group would convert the cash into cryptocurrency “in an attempt to conceal the source, ownership, and control of the stolen proceeds and distribute it amongst themselves and their co-conspirators,” prosecuto...