Interesting facts about Simon Leviev
''The Tinder Swindler'' real-life, behind the scenes
A week after the release of the documentary ''The Tinder Swindler’’, it seems that the whole world is obsessed with Simon Leviev, or Shimon Hayut, as his real name is. Although the Netflix documentary portrayed the life of the man who brought the three women to the brink of despair, there are still some things that happened, that we couldn’t see in the film.
One of them happened in the last seven days. Tinder, the platform that gave wings to Hayut, decided to ban him from access after the film came out. Two days after the documentary was released, Hayut announced on Instagram that he is now ready to tell his side of the story. The number of his followers has been growing unstoppably.
The real king of diamonds, Lev Leviev, reported Hayut to Israeli police for fraud. The millionaire is not at all pleased that Hayut introduced himself as his son. The real Leviev's company, LLD Diamonds, also distances itself from everything Hayut has done.
Hayut has previously denied all charges. "I have the right to choose the name I want. I never pretended to be someone's son, but some people thought I was. I may have broken their hearts, but I never took a penny from anyone. Those women enjoyed my company, traveled, and saw the world at my expense'', he claimed.
He was convicted in Israel in 2019, but this has nothing to do with the actions from the documentary, but with the accusations from 2011. Over the years, he was a wanted person in Israel, England, Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway.
Although he was sentenced to 15 months in prison, he served only five. He was released earlier as part of a program to reduce the number of prisoners due to the coronavirus pandemic. They did not mention that reason in the documentary, but stated that he was released due to good behavior.
Just three months ago, Hayut gave an interview in which he introduced himself as an international real estate expert. Once again, he lied - even though he is 31, the article states that he is 29. Even then, he was signed as Simon Leviev. At the same time he gave another interview in which he even said that Netflix made a documentary about him and his luxury cars.
Hayut’s real father is Yohanan Hayut, the chief rabbi at El Al Airlines. The police suspected him of lying to people by presenting his son as Simon Leviev. His lawyer said the allegations were false.
Model Kate Konlin said she broke up with Hayut. She claimed they are friends now, and that he is in the real estate business and all the accusations against him are false. That he is not in the real estate business, however, is shown by the fact that there is no longer a website where he offered his advice for a fee, which appears in the Tinder Scam.
Pernilla Sjoholm went bankrupt because of Hayut and lives with her mother. Another Hayut victim, Cecilie Fjellhøy, has advice for anyone who finds themselves in the same situation as her. "Surround yourself with friends. Don't be ashamed. Be open and honest and please report everything to the police," she said. She and Pernilla were brought together by Hayut's scam, and they even went on holiday to Greece together last summer.
Documentary director Felicity Morris, who also directed the popular true-crime documentary ‘’Don't Fuck With Cats’’, also announced special podcasts about Hayut's father, bodyguard Peter and "business partner" Avichay.
