Video: Tinder Swinder Simon Leviev denies allegations against him

Quick summary:

  • In 2018 and 2019, Shimon Hayut, 31, allegedly swindled multiple women into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars under the alias Simon Leviev
  • He pretended to be a billionaire working in the diamond industry, and would ask for funds – claiming he was in danger and needed money to protect his identity
  • This month, his alleged ploys were exposed in a new Netflix documentary – sparking immense backlash against him
  • Now, he is speaking out for the first time since the release of the doc in an exclusive two-part interview with Inside Edition
  • Hayut says that he was ‘just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder,’ adding ‘I’m not this monster’
  • The two-part interview airs Monday, February 21, and Tuesday, February 22
  • Hayut was ultimately arrested in 2019 and charged with fraud, theft and forgery
  • He spent five months in jail and was released on ‘good behavior’ in May 2020
  • He then began sharing photos of his himself enjoying a life of luxury to Instagram
  • His photos included partying on a yacht, eating in expensive restaurants, taking helicopter rides and vacationing all over the world
  • He addressed the Netflix doc on his Instagram Story, claiming he would ‘share his side of the story’ soon. However, hours later, the account disappeared
  • The account was reactivated on February 9 and he has been posting ever since

Simon Leviev, the man at the centre of the hit Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swinder, has broken his silence and denied the legions of allegations that have been levelled against him by nearly a dozen women.
“I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder. I am not a Tinder swindler,” Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut, told “Inside Edition” in a teaser of the interview.
In fact, Leviev maintains he is anything but a scammer and appeared on the clip with a woman believed to be his girlfriend.
“I’m the biggest gentleman in the world,” he said.
The full interview with the so-called Tinder Swindler, will air on 21 and 22 February 2022.
The doccie features women who claim Simon Leviev swindled them out of millions of rands, as part of a well-orchestrated scheme. Leviev, who is from Israel, posed as the the son of a diamond mogul named Lev Leviev. After The Tinder Swindler premiered on Netflix, it has been streamed a whopping 50 million times. Leviev has since been banned from numerous dating apps, including Tinder.
He was arrested in 2019 in Greece after being caught with a fake ID. He was extradited to Israel, where he was convicted of theft, fraud and forgery of documents. However the charges related to crimes from 2011 and not ones he committed as outlined in Tinder Swindler.

In addition, Simon served a mere five months out of his 15 month prison sentence. He now lives as a free man in Israel. According to Netflix, Simon Leviev did not wish to participate or give a right of reply to the accusations levelled against him. Instead, he threatened legal action.
But Leviev isn’t letting this scandal bring him down – he intends making lemonade out of lemons, having signed with a Hollywood talent agent.