Simon Leviev (Hebrew: סיימון לבייב; born Shimon Yehuda Hayut, 27 September 1990) is an Israeli convicted of forgery and fraud. According to The Times of Israel, between 2017 and 2019 he allegedly conned an estimated $1 billion dollars from people and banks in a Ponzi scheme.[2][3] His criminal activity became widely known in 2019 after the publication of an article titled "The Tinder Swindler" by investigative journalists from the Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang, with the support of Israeli journalist Uri Blau, and later with the release of the 2022 Netflix documentary of the same name.[4]
Simon Leviev | |
|---|---|
| Born | Shimon Yehuda Hayut 27 September 1990[1] |
| Criminal status | Released |
| Criminal charge | Theft, forgery, and fraud |
| Penalty | |
| Imprisoned at | Finland (2015), Israel (2019) |
In 2015, Leviev was sentenced to two years in prison in Finland, and in 2019 to 15 months in prison in Israel.[5]
Early life
editLeviev was born Shimon Yehuda Hayut (Hebrew: שמעון יהודה חיות) in 1990 in Ramat Elchanan, Bnei Brak, Israel.[3] His father is Yohanan Hayut, the chief rabbi of El Al airlines.[6] At the age of 15 he moved to Brooklyn, New York in the US with his family's friends. According to interviews done by Felicity Morris, Leviev has been committing minor cons like cheque fraud since he was a teenager.[7] He later changed his legal name from Shimon Hayut to Simon Leviev, using the surname Leviev to pretend he was related to Lev Avnerovich Leviev, an Israeli businessman known as "The King of Diamonds".[8]
Criminal activity and legal trouble
editIn 2011, Hayut was charged in Israel with theft, forgery, and fraud for cashing stolen checks.[3] According to reports, he stole a checkbook belonging to a family while babysitting their child, and another's while working as a handyman at their home.[3] He never showed up in court and escaped the country across the border into Jordan with a fake passport under the name Mordechai Nisim Tapiro, and fled to Europe.[1][9] In 2012, he was indicted by an Israeli court and charged with theft and forgery of checks, as well as for leaving a five-year-old he was babysitting unattended.[1] In 2015, he was arrested in Finland and was sentenced to three years in prison. When arrested in Finland, he claimed he was an Israeli man born in 1978 and was found with two forged Israeli passports, three forged Israeli driver's licenses, two forged Israeli flight permits, and five American Express credit cards.
After finishing his sentence early, he returned to Israel to be recharged and sentenced in 2017. However, according to The Times of Israel, he assumed a different identity by changing his legal name to Simon Leviev and fled the country again.[8][3] Hayut travelled around Europe, pretending to be different people. He allegedly also presented himself as the son of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev, using the dating app Tinder to contact women as Leviev, and tricked them into loaning him money that he never repaid. He would charm women with lavish gifts, taking them to dinners on private jets. He would later pretend he was being targeted by his "enemies", often sending the same messages and images pretending that his bodyguard was attacked, asking his victims to help him financially.
In 2019, he was arrested by Interpol in Greece after using a forged passport.[3][10] Later that year, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in Israel,[5][11] but was released five months later as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[12] According to The Mirror, he later offered "business advice" for a fee via a website.[13][14] According to The Times of Israel, in 2020 he pretended to be a medical worker to get the COVID-19 vaccine early.[15][16]
In an interview with CNN on 21 February 2022, he denied defrauding the women, claiming he was just a "single guy who wanted to meet some girls on Tinder."[17]
In February 2022, attorneys for the Leviev family filed a criminal complaint against Hayut with the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, for libelous publications, infringing privacy and violating trademark orders.[18][19] In July 2022, they filed another criminal complaint against Hayut for damaging the family's name.[20] The hearing of the Leviev family's complaint was postponed after the Israeli prosecutor's office sent a request to postpone the hearing on the grounds that Simon Leviev is the focus of a criminal investigation for the same offenses.
In popular culture
editIn 2022, Netflix released a video documentary, The Tinder Swindler, which describes his story as told by three women.[21][22] According to The Washington Post, following the release of the documentary, the movie has become the most ever watched Documentary on Netflix, and was nominated for five Emmy awards.
In 2022, shortly after the release of the documentary, Leviev signed with talent manager Gina Rodriguez of Gitoni Inc. in pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. He is working on publishing a book, along with a movie and TV Series based on his life story.[23] He also has a Cameo account, where he charged US$99.00 for personalized videos.[24]
In August 2024, Simon Leviev released his biography titled "I am Simon Leviev."
References
edit- ^ a b c "Svindlerens ofre". VG Nett (in Norwegian). 19 February 2019. Archived from the original on 6 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Kranc, Lauren (2 February 2022). "'The Tinder Swindler' True Story: Where Is Simon Leviev Now?". Esquire. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f "'Tinder Swindler' extradited back to Israel to face charges". Times of Israel. 7 October 2019. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022.
- ^ Horton, Adrian (2 February 2022). "'Catfishing on a whole other level': the shocking story of the Tinder Swindler". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ a b "Israeli 'Tinder swindler' sentenced to 15 months in prison". Time of Israel. 30 December 2019. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022.
- ^ Breger, Sarah (10 February 2022). "The Bnei Brak Bachur who became the Tinder Swindler". momentmag.com. Moment Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 February 2022. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ "Beware the Tinder Swindler, a Real-Life Dating-App Villain". Vanity Fair. 2 February 2022. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ a b Padin, Malvika (3 February 2022). "All the details about Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev - including where he is now". mirror. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Natalie Remøe Hansen; Kristoffer Kumar; Erlend Ofte Arntsen (16 February 2019). "The Tinder Swindler". VG Nett. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ "Israel requests extradition of Tinder fraudster". VG Nett. 2 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ "Tindersvindleren dømt til 15 måneders fengsel". VG Nett (in Norwegian Bokmål). 30 December 2019. Archived from the original on 5 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Mitchell, Molli (4 February 2022). "LLD Diamonds responds to "Tinder Swinder" Simon Leviev's lies". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Kyle (2 February 2022). "Tinder Swindler went back on dating app after sick scam and now seeing a model". mirror. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ "Home | Simon Leviev". 2 February 2022. Archived from the original on 2 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
- ^ "'Tinder swindler' faked being medic, conned his way into early vaccine – report". The Times of Israel. 30 December 2020. Archived from the original on 30 December 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ "What happened to Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut after the scam is covered Netflix". inews.co.uk. 3 February 2022. Archived from the original on 7 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ France, Lisa Respers (21 February 2022). "'Tinder Swindler's' Simon Leviev 'just wanted to meet some girls'". CNN. Archived from the original on 16 November 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
- ^ Shafir, Nitsan (28 February 2022). "Leviev family files criminal complaint against 'Tinder Swindler'". Globes. Archived from the original on 29 June 2022. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
- ^ "'Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev sued by diamond magnate's family over impersonation". NBC News. 1 March 2022. Archived from the original on 4 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
- ^ "Leviev family submits criminal complaint against 'Tinder Swindler' Hayut". The Jerusalem Post. 14 July 2022. Archived from the original on 14 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ Cumming, Ed (5 February 2022). "The Tinder Swindler tells the story of a cruel yet charismatic conman – review". The Independent. Archived from the original on 8 February 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
- ^ Vernon, Polly (1 February 2022). "I was in love with the Tinder Swindler". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 18 February 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
- ^ "'Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev Joins Cameo, Signs With Manager: Inside His Hollywood Plans | Entertainment Tonight". www.etonline.com. Archived from the original on 22 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ Simon Leviev [dead link]
External links
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