US prosecutors charged Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan and Guy Sheetrit with running a fraud scheme that stole $129m by impersonating chief executives with AI-cloned voices and images. Spanish police arrested Soall and Hazan in June and August, while UK police arrested Sheetrit in September, and Washington has requested extradition of all three. The case matters because it shows voice cloning moving from isolated thefts to industrial-scale corporate fraud.
How the fake CEO and lawyer scheme worked
According to the indictment, the scheme ran from 2024 to 2026 and followed a repeated two-step routine. A caller posing as the company chief executive contacted an employee and asked for help with a secret deal, using AI to mimic the boss voice or image. The fake executive then instructed the employee to contact a lawyer at a large international law firm for the transfer.
Another member of the group played the role of that lawyer and supplied bank details for a large payment. Soall mainly posed as UK lawyers and kept a handwritten script titled Lawyer Call, prosecutors allege. Hazan and Sheetrit are accused of handling the laundering side, moving proceeds through accounts in Spain, Greece, the UAE, Singapore and China before conversion into cryptocurrency.
Victims included a Missouri hospital system, which lost about $4.8m, and a UK fintech company, which lost about $11.6m. Also hit were a Rhode Island bank, a California hospital system, a Massachusetts mutual fund and a Florida pet food company. The charges include wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, with the most serious counts carrying up to 20 years in prison, and Hazan had a prior bank fraud conspiracy conviction in the same court in 2008.
What the $129m case means for companies
For companies that use voice and video calls to approve payments, the verification process now needs a separate channel. A finance employee who receives an urgent request from a chief executive about a confidential deal can no longer rely on familiar voice or face alone. Small firms feel this acutely because one transfer of several million dollars can threaten operations, while large hospitals, banks and funds face repeated targeting across departments.
Controls that fit this threat include callback rules to known numbers, dual approval for new payees, and limits on first-time transfers to foreign accounts. Firms should define when outside counsel is genuinely involved and how bank details are confirmed, since the group inserted a fake lawyer into the chain. Training needs to cover AI impersonation directly, with examples such as the Lawyer Call script, rather than generic phishing advice.
Whether this becomes a turning point will be visible in extradition decisions for Soall, Hazan and Sheetrit and in any trial in the US. Convictions with lengthy sentences would signal higher risk for organizers and launderers who convert proceeds to cryptocurrency. Acquittals or failed extraditions would leave the burden largely on corporate payment controls, as the charges remain allegations and the men are presumed innocent.
