3 charged with using AI to steal some $129 million from companies

Three individuals have been charged with using artificial intelligence to steal approximately $129 million from various companies worldwide, according to prosecutors in a New York District Court. Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, allegedly targeted thousands of companies over a period of over a year and a half. Their victims included hospitals in Missouri and California, a Rhode Island bank, a UK financial technology company, a Massachusetts mutual fund company and a Florida pet food producer.

The indictment filed in New York also charges the defendants with money laundering. Soall and Sheetrit are further accused of money laundering. The suspects, who hail from Spain, the UK, Israel and the UAE, were apprehended between June and September. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain, while Sheetrit was apprehended in the UK. Extradition requests for all three are currently pending.

Hazan has a prior conviction for conspiracy to commit bank fraud in a New York court in 2008. The trio, who were also known as "Rocky Balboa", "Superman Cash" and "Fat Boy", often targeted the accounting departments of the companies they defrauded. They would send counterfeit emails from CEOs requesting assistance with confidential financial transactions. They would then hold a phone or video call where they used AI to mimic the CEO's voice and, at times, appearance.

The defendants would instruct the employees to wire significant payments to offshore bank accounts, which were then converted into cryptocurrency to conceal their origin. The funds were distributed to the trio and others involved. The maximum sentence for the trio, if convicted, is 20 years, except for aggravated identity theft, which carries a maximum sentence of two years.