Three men charged in alleged $129 million AI voice-cloning fraud scheme

An accountant at a regional hospital system in Missouri picked up the phone and heard a familiar voice. It sounded exactly like the organization’s chief executive, asking for an urgent and confidential wire transfer.

According to federal prosecutors, it wasn’t the CEO. It was allegedly part of an AI-powered impersonation operation that took companies for more than $129 million.

On November 6, 2026, prosecutors in Manhattan unsealed an indictment against three foreign nationals: Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit. The case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The charges read like a checklist of financial crime. They include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, money laundering, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.

How the alleged scheme worked

Prosecutors say the operation ran from approximately July 2024 to February 2026. During that window, the defendants allegedly used AI tools to clone the voices and images of corporate executives and attorneys at major international law firms.

A target would first get an email or phone call from someone posing as the company’s CEO, asking for help with a sensitive deal. Then a supposed lawyer would follow up with wire instructions, giving the request a veneer of legal legitimacy.

The targets were typically accounting staff, the people with the actual authority to move money. Employees allegedly authorized large transfers into accounts controlled by the accused.

The indictment describes thousands of targeted companies. The victims who did lose money were a strikingly varied group:

• A Missouri hospital system, which lost approximately $4.83 million
• A UK fintech company, which lost approximately $11.58 million
• A Florida pet food company, which lost approximately $5.24 million
• A Rhode Island bank
• A California hospital
• A Massachusetts mutual fund

Per-victim losses ranged from approximately $2 million to over $11 million.

Arrests across Europe, extradition pending

All three men were arrested in Europe over the course of 2026. Soall, 41, who has ties to Spain and the UK, was arrested on June 17, 2026. Hazan, 54, of Israel, was picked up on August 5, 2026. Sheetrit, 42, with ties to Israel and the UAE, was arrested on September 7, 2026.

Extradition proceedings to bring all three to the US are underway. Each defendant faces up to 20 years per major count if convicted.

Hazan has a prior bank fraud conviction from 2008.

As with any indictment, these are allegations. None of the three has been convicted on the current charges.

The crypto thread

Money laundering sits at the center of this case, and digital assets reportedly played a role. Some of the stolen funds were allegedly converted into crypto as part of the laundering process. Court documents do not specify which assets were used or how much moved through them.