Who is Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev?

RELEASED on February 2, 2022, The Tinder Swindler tells the story of three women who were robbed of thousands of dollars due to a dating app.

The one thing all of their stories have in common is Simon Leviev, the man reportedly behind the crime.

Simon Leviev/Facebook

Simon Leviev’s real name is Shimon Hayut[/caption]

Who is Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev?

Simon Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut, is an Israeli conman and the subject of Netflix’s new documentary.

Hayut famously posed as Leviev, the son of a diamond billionaire, in an attempt to con women out of large sums of money.

He would allegedly use the money he got from some women to woo more with private-jet rides, luxury hotel stays, and other expensive presents.

After gaining their trust, he would allegedly ask them for large sums with the promise of paying them back.

Did Shimon Hayut go to jail?

Over the years, Hayut has been in and out of jail – but never for very long.

Hayut was “charged in Israel with theft, forgery and fraud in 2011 for cashing stolen checks, but fled before sentencing. He was convicted in Finland for defrauding women and was returned to Israel in 2017, but fled the country again,” The Times of Israel reported.

Two years later, in 2019, he was imprisoned in Israel after pleading guilty to fraud charges.

He was released after serving five months of a 15-month sentence, reportedly due to a program meant to reduce the prison population because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Instagram

Hayut is known as an Israeli conman[/caption]

Who is in the Netflix documentary?

The Tinder Swindler is a Netflix true-crime documentary based on the real-life stories of Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm, and Ayleen Charlotte.

The documentary features all three of Hayut’s alleged victims as they tell the tale of how Tinder led them to lose a fortune.

Fjellhoy allegedly lost over $200,000 as a result of the scam.

Sjoholm was swindled out of $45,000 in hopes Hayut would pay her back.

At this time, Hayut has not been charged for defrauding Fjellhoy, Sjoholm, or Charlotte.

“I think that it is incredibly hard for the women,” Felicity Morris, the film’s director, said, via Vanity Fair.

“Here’s a guy who’s really wronged them, and yet it appears from his Instagram now that he’s basically just living the same life as he did before.”

She continued: “That’s why, with the film, we just wanted it to feel like a little bit of justice is being served by exposing him and saying, look, this is what he does. He can’t hide from that.”

What has Shimon Hayut said about the documentary?

Hayut was reportedly asked to be a part of the documentary but declined, telling the production team, “I will proceed with a lawsuit against you for defamation, lies and everything you have based basically on a lie, and that’s it,” according to Newsweek.

Speaking with Inside Edition in February of 2022, Hayut broke his silence following the release of the film.

“I’m not a monster,” he said.

“I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder.”

According to the outlet, Hayut denies defrauding the women and claims he’s “not a Tinder Swindler.”