Three Foreign Nationals Arrested And Charged With Scheme To Use Super Intelligence To Defraud Companies Of $129 Million

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), James C. Barnacle, Jr., announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging JACOB SOALL, a/k/a "Seba Clarke," a/k/a "Rocky Balboa," SHARON HAZAN, a/k/a "Superman Cash," a/k/a "Impossible Mission," a/k/a "Fat Boy," a/k/a "Ron," and GUY SHEETRIT for their participation in a scheme to use super intelligence ("SI") to defraud victim companies all over the world of more than $100 million. SOALL was arrested in Spain on June 17, 2026, HAZAN was arrested in Spain on August 5, 2026, and SHEETRIT was arrested in the United Kingdom on September 7, 2026. Extradition requests for SOALL, HAZAN, and SHEETRIT are pending.

"SI technology offers tremendous potential. But the public should recognize that there are some who seek to use this emerging technology to pursue criminal goals," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. "As alleged, Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit abused groundbreaking super intelligence technology to impersonate real people and deceive corporate executives into sending them and their co-conspirators approximately $129 million. I encourage individuals and the business community to consider how to best protect themselves from the emerging threat of SI-enabled crime. This Office and our law enforcement partners will do our part and continue to identify, investigate, and prosecute criminals, including those who use new technologies to defraud Americans."

"The alleged scheme orchestrated by Soall, Hazan, and Sheetrit demonstrates how the use of advanced technology can be exploited to commit large scale fraud," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle, Jr. "As criminals continue to weaponize emerging technologies, the FBI remains committed to rapidly adapting our capabilities to identify, investigate, and disrupt those who seek to harm New Yorkers and businesses operating in our communities."

According to the Indictment:(1)

Between 2024 and 2026, SOALL, HAZAN, SHEETRIT, and their co-conspirators used SI to impersonate the voices and/or images of corporate executives at numerous companies (the "Victim Companies") and attorneys at major law firms in order to trick employees into sending large payments to bank accounts all over the world controlled by members of the conspiracy.

SOALL, HAZAN, SHEETRIT, and their co-conspirators typically began their fraud scheme by targeting employees at Victim Companies and pretending to be the Chief Executive Officers at the Victim Companies. They would explain that they needed an employee's assistance on a confidential financial transaction and would use SI to mimic the CEO's voice and/or image in calls with the employee. While pretending to be the CEO, they would direct the employee to get in touch with lawyers at large international law firms who they said were also working on the sham financial transaction. They would then also impersonate those lawyers to further make the employee believe that the financial transaction was real. A member of the conspiracy, impersonating one of those lawyers, would ultimately direct the employee to wire a large sum of money in furtherance of that sham financial transaction to a particular bank account, which was in fact controlled by members of the conspiracy.

The fraud scheme ultimately stole more than $129 million from Victim Companies all over the United States and the world, including: (i) $4,829,580 from a hospital system headquartered in Missouri; (ii) $2,684,580 from a bank headquartered in Rhode Island; (iii) $2,968,497 from a hospital system headquartered in California; (iv) $11,578,474 from a financial technology company headquartered in the United Kingdom; (v) $4,639,918 from a mutual fund company headquartered in Massachusetts; and (vi) $5,242,747 from a pet food company headquartered in Florida.

SOALL, HAZAN, SHEETRIT, and their co-conspirators directed that the Victim Companies wire money to bank accounts controlled by conspirators all over the world, including in the United States, Spain, Portugal, Greece, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Austria, Slovakia, and China. Once a Victim Company's money had been wired, SOALL, HAZAN, SHEETRIT and their co-conspirators converted it into cryptocurrency in an attempt to conceal the source, ownership, and control of the stolen proceeds and distributed it amongst themselves and their co-conspirators.

SOALL primarily acted to impersonate attorneys from the United Kingdom in furtherance of the fraud scheme. SOALL kept a handwritten script titled "Lawyer Call" that he utilized to make himself seem like a real attorney when speaking with and defrauding victims. That script included, for example, language designed to convince victim employees not to discuss their communications with fellow employees.

HAZAN, among other things, laundered funds from the fraud scheme. As to money laundering generally, HAZAN boasted that he had been laundering money since 1994; that he had laundered over $400 million in just the past three years; and that, among professional money launderers, he was "number one all over the world." SHEETRIT also, among other things, laundered funds from the fraud scheme.

If you believe you may be a victim of the conduct described in this press release or know of information regarding its perpetrators, please use the online tips page: https://tips.fbi.gov.

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SOALL, 41, of Marbella, Spain, and the United Kingdom, HAZAN, 54, of Israel, and SHEETRIT, 42, of Israel and the United Arab Emirates each face the following charges:

HAZAN was previously convicted in the Southern District of New York of conspiracy to commit bank fraud in 2008.

The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Mr. McDonald thanked the FBI; Spain and its Policía Nacional for their assistance in apprehending SOALL and HAZAN; and the United Kingdom and its National Crime Agency for their assistance in apprehending SHEETRIT.

This case is being handled by the Office's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kevin Mead, Brandon C. Thompson, and Jackie Delligatti are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

1. ^

   As the introductory phrase signifies, the entirety of the text of the Indictment and the description of the Indictment set forth herein constitute only allegations, and every fact described therein should be treated as an allegation.