The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York announced an indictment on Thursday 5 November over a fraud that ran from July 2024 to February 2026. The defendants are Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42. The Associated Press, NBC News and The Guardian reported the case, citing the prosecutors’ press release and the indictment.

Soall was arrested in Spain in June, Hazan in Spain in August and Sheetrit in Britain in September, NBC reported.

First an email, then a mimicked voice

The group usually targeted companies’ accounting departments, AP reported. An employee received an email in the CEO’s name asking for help with a confidential financial transaction. The group then arranged a phone or video call in which the defendants used AI to mimic the CEO’s voice and sometimes face.

Next, the ‘CEO’ told the employee to contact a lawyer at a large law firm who was supposedly handling the same transaction. A member of the group posed as the lawyer too. Prosecutors said Soall mainly impersonated UK lawyers and used a handwritten ‘Lawyer Call’ script on calls to come across as a real lawyer. Finally, the lawyer advised the employee to transfer large sums to bank accounts around the world.

In the press release, Jamie McDonald, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, urged individuals and businesses to consider ways to protect themselves against AI-enabled crime, NBC reported.

Victims and the money trail

The indictment says the group targeted thousands of companies in different countries, AP reported. The Guardian wrote that the Justice Department has itemised some of the victims’ losses. A Missouri hospital system lost nearly $5 million, a California hospital system about $3 million and a bank in Rhode Island about $2.7 million. A Massachusetts mutual fund lost more than $4.6 million, a Florida pet food company about $5 million and a UK tech company more than $11 million. Together these sums come to about $31 million. NBC also names a New York investment bank as a victim.

The money went to accounts in at least nine countries, including the US and China, The Guardian said. The group then converted it into cryptocurrency to conceal its origin and split it among those involved. NBC wrote that prosecutors allege Hazan and Sheetrit handled the money laundering. Hazan was convicted in New York in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Charges and penalties

All three face seven counts, NBC reported: conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft, conspiracy to commit money laundering and two counts of money laundering.

The sources differ on the maximum sentences. NBC said each count carries up to 20 years in prison. AP reported that the maximum sentences announced by the prosecutors’ office are two years for aggravated identity theft and 20 years for the other counts.

The charges are prosecutors’ allegations. AP could not immediately obtain comment from lawyers for Soall and Sheetrit. It was unclear whether Hazan has a lawyer.