The men are Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42. Spanish police arrested Soall and Hazan in June and August, and UK police arrested Sheetrit in September. The US has asked for all three to be extradited.

The scheme ran from 2024 to 2026, according to the indictment. The men would call an employee while posing as the company’s chief executive, using AI to mimic the boss’s voice or image. They would ask for help with a secret deal.

The fake CEO then told the employee to contact a lawyer at a large international law firm. Another member of the group posed as that lawyer and gave the bank details for a large transfer.

The victims included a Missouri hospital system, which lost about $4.8m, and a UK fintech company, which lost about $11.6m. A Rhode Island bank, a California hospital system, a Massachusetts mutual fund, and a Florida pet food company were also hit.

The money went to accounts in countries including Spain, Greece, the UAE, Singapore, and China. It was then turned into cryptocurrency to hide where it came from, prosecutors said.

Soall mainly posed as UK lawyers and kept a handwritten script called , according to the indictment. Hazan and Sheetrit are accused of laundering the money. Hazan was convicted of bank fraud conspiracy in the same court in 2008.

The three face charges including wire fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. The most serious counts carry up to 20 years in prison. The charges are allegations, and the men are presumed innocent.

The case is a larger version of a 2019 voice-cloning fraud, in which criminals faked a CEO’s voice to steal $243,000. Since then, AI impersonation scams have grown fast.