Three people have been charged in a $129 million AI impersonation scheme targeting thousands of companies worldwide, prosecutors said Thursday. The accused, Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, were indicted in the US District Court in New York on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors said the scheme ran for more than a year and a half. Court documents described victims including hospital systems in Missouri and California, a bank in Rhode Island, a financial technology company in the United Kingdom, a mutual fund company in Massachusetts, and a pet food company in Florida. Prosecutors said the group targeted accounting departments by sending emails that purported to come from a chief executive officer and asking for help with confidential financial transactions. They also coordinated phone or video calls in which they used AI to mimic the CEO’s voice and, at times, image. The defendants allegedly directed employees to contact an attorney at a major law firm, and prosecutors said they were also prepared to impersonate that lawyer. The impersonated attorney would tell the employee to wire large payments to bank accounts around the world. According to the indictment, the funds were converted into cryptocurrency to help conceal their origin and then distributed to the trio and others involved. Soall was also accused of impersonating UK attorneys and using a handwritten script titled “Lawyer Call” when speaking with and defrauding victims. In addition to fraud and identity theft charges, the trio were also charged with money laundering. They were arrested between June and September. Hazan previously was convicted in a New York court in 2008 of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. If convicted, prosecutors said each charge carries a maximum of 20 years, except aggravated identity theft, which carries a maximum of two years. The latest status is that the three are charged and awaiting court proceedings.