{{Short description|Israeli businessman (born 1990)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox criminal | name = Simon Leviev | alias = | image = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|27 September 1990}}<ref name="VGNett_2019"/> | birth_place = Ramat Elchanan, Bnei Brak, Israel | criminal_charge = fraud | criminal_penalty = *3 years in Finnish prison *15 months in Israeli prison, {{Currency|150000|ILS}} compensation, {{Currency|20000|ILS}} fine | birth_name = Shimon Yehuda Hayut | imprisoned = Finland (2015), Israel (2019), Georgia (2025) | conviction_status = Released | native_name = סיימון לבייב | native_name_lang = he }} '''Simon Leviev''' ({{langx|he|סיימון לבייב}}; born '''Shimon Yehuda Hayut''', 27 September 1990) is an Israeli business man and entrepreneur who rose to fame due to his widely publicized large-scale of alleged fraud. According to ''The Times of Israel'', between 2017 and 2019 he allegedly conned $1 billion from banks in a Ponzi scheme.<ref name="Kranc 2022">{{cite web | last=Kranc | first=Lauren | title='The Tinder Swindler' True Story: Where Is Simon Leviev Now? | website=Esquire | date=2 February 2022 | url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a38955743/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-true-story-where-is-he-now/ | access-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208195316/https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a38955743/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-true-story-where-is-he-now/|archive-date=8 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="extrad">{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/tinder-swindler-extradited-back-to-israel-to-face-charges/|title='Tinder Swindler' extradited back to Israel to face charges|website=Times of Israel|date=7 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207174127/https://www.timesofisrael.com/tinder-swindler-extradited-back-to-israel-to-face-charges/|archive-date=7 February 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Horton 2022">{{cite web | last=Horton | first=Adrian | title='Catfishing on a whole other level': the shocking story of the Tinder Swindler | website=The Guardian | date=2 February 2022 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/02/tinder-swindler-netflix-documentary-simon-leviev | access-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208200314/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/feb/02/tinder-swindler-netflix-documentary-simon-leviev|archive-date=8 February 2022}}</ref>
== Early life == Leviev was born Shimon Yehuda Hayut ({{langx|he| שמעון יהודה חיות}}) in 1990 in Ramat Elchanan, Bnei Brak, Israel.<ref name="extrad" /> His father is Yohanan Hayut, the Chief Rabbi of El Al airlines.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Breger |first1=Sarah |title=The Bnei Brak Bachur who became the Tinder Swindler |url=https://momentmag.com/tinder-swindler/ |website=momentmag.com |date=10 February 2022 |publisher=Moment Magazine |access-date=18 March 2022 |archive-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217130806/https://momentmag.com/tinder-swindler/ |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Nast 2022">{{cite magazine | title=Beware the Tinder Swindler, a Real-Life Dating-App Villain | magazine=Vanity Fair | date=2 February 2022 | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/02/netflix-the-tinder-swindler-shimon-hayut-simon-leviev | access-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208201105/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/02/02/netflix-the-tinder-swindler-shimon-hayut-simon-leviev|archive-date=8 February 2022}}</ref> 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".<ref name="Padin 2022">{{cite web | last=Padin | first=Malvika | title=All the details about Tinder Swindler Simon Leviev - including where he is now | website=mirror | date=3 February 2022 | url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/inside-tinder-swindler-simon-levievs-26127091 | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=7 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207114259/https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/inside-tinder-swindler-simon-levievs-26127091 | url-status=live }}</ref>
== Criminal activity and legal trouble == In 2011, Hayut was charged in Israel with theft, forgery, and fraud for cashing stolen checks.<ref name="extrad" /> 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.<ref name="extrad" /> 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.<ref name="VGNett_2019">{{cite news| title=Svindlerens ofre | website=VG Nett | date=19 February 2019 | url=https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/svindelofre/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206170328/https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/svindelofre/|archive-date=6 February 2022| language=no | access-date=6 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="VG Nett 2019">{{cite news |author=Natalie Remøe Hansen |author2=Kristoffer Kumar |author3=Erlend Ofte Arntsen |date=16 February 2019 |title=The Tinder Swindler |url=https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/tindersvindler/english/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205200219/https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/tindersvindler/english/ |archive-date=5 February 2022 |access-date=6 February 2022 |website=VG Nett}}</ref> 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.<ref name="VGNett_2019" /> 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.<ref name="Padin 2022" /><ref name="extrad" /> 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.<ref name="extrad" /><ref name="Nyheter fra Norges mest leste nettavis – VG 2019">{{cite web | title=Israel requests extradition of Tinder fraudster | website=VG Nett | date=2 July 2019 | url=https://www.vg.no/i/VbaMB1 | language=en | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=4 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204230048/https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/i/VbaMB1/israel-requests-extradition-of-tinder-fraudster | url-status=live }}</ref> Later that year, he was sentenced to 15 months in prison in Israel,<ref name="sentence">{{cite web |date=30 December 2019 |title=Israeli 'Tinder swindler' sentenced to 15 months in prison |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tinder-swindler-sentenced-to-15-months-in-prison/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208200517/https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-tinder-swindler-sentenced-to-15-months-in-prison/ |archive-date=8 February 2022 |website=Time of Israel}}</ref><ref name="Tindersvindleren dømt til 15 måneders fengsel – VG 2019">{{cite news | title=Tindersvindleren dømt til 15 måneders fengsel | website=VG Nett | date=30 December 2019 | url=https://www.vg.no/i/y3pyze | language=nb | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=5 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220205104735/https://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/i/y3pyze/tindersvindleren-doemt-til-15-maaneders-fengsel | url-status=live }}</ref> but was released five months later as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.<ref name="Mitchell 2022">{{cite web | last=Mitchell | first=Molli | title=LLD Diamonds responds to "Tinder Swinder" Simon Leviev's lies | website=Newsweek | date=4 February 2022 | url=https://www.newsweek.com/lld-diamonds-simon-leviev-response-comment-tinder-swindler-netflix-shimon-hayut-1676130 | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=4 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204093812/https://www.newsweek.com/lld-diamonds-simon-leviev-response-comment-tinder-swindler-netflix-shimon-hayut-1676130 | url-status=live }}</ref> According to ''The Mirror'', he later offered "business advice" for a fee via a website.<ref>{{Cite web|last=O'Sullivan|first=Kyle|date=2022-02-02|title=Tinder Swindler went back on dating app after sick scam and now seeing a model|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/tinder-swindler-now-shimon-hayut-26118262|access-date=2022-02-13|website=mirror|language=en|archive-date=14 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220214211226/https://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/tinder-swindler-now-shimon-hayut-26118262|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2022-02-02|title=Home {{!}} Simon Leviev|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220202125400/http://simonleviev.online/|access-date=2022-02-13|url=http://simonleviev.online/|archive-date=2022-02-02}}</ref> According to ''The Times of Israel'', in 2020 he pretended to be a medical worker to get the COVID-19 vaccine early.<ref name="The Times of Israel 2020">{{cite web | title='Tinder swindler' faked being medic, conned his way into early vaccine – report | website=The Times of Israel | date=30 December 2020 | url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/tinder-swindler-faked-being-medic-conned-his-way-into-early-vaccine-report/ | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=30 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230105907/https://www.timesofisrael.com/tinder-swindler-faked-being-medic-conned-his-way-into-early-vaccine-report/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="inews.co.uk 2022">{{cite web | title=What happened to Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut after the scam is covered Netflix | website=inews.co.uk | date=3 February 2022 | url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/simon-leviev-now-tinder-swindler-shimon-hayut-what-happend-diamonds-netflix-series-1438051 | access-date=6 February 2022 | archive-date=7 February 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220207221111/https://inews.co.uk/culture/television/simon-leviev-now-tinder-swindler-shimon-hayut-what-happend-diamonds-netflix-series-1438051 | url-status=live }}</ref>
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."<ref name="France 2022">{{cite web | last=France | first=Lisa Respers | title='Tinder Swindler's' Simon Leviev 'just wanted to meet some girls' | website=CNN | date=21 February 2022 | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/entertainment/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-interview/index.html | access-date=23 February 2022 | archive-date=16 November 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231116180937/https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/21/entertainment/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-interview/index.html | url-status=live }}</ref>
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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shafir |first=Nitsan |date=2022-02-28 |title=Leviev family files criminal complaint against 'Tinder Swindler' |language=en |work=Globes |url=https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-leviev-family-files-criminal-complaint-against-tinder-swindler-1001403848 |access-date=2022-06-29 |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629043851/https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-leviev-family-files-criminal-complaint-against-tinder-swindler-1001403848 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NBC News 2022 sued">{{cite web | title='Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev sued by diamond magnate's family over impersonation | website=NBC News | date=1 March 2022 | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-sued-diamond-magnates-family-impersonatio-rcna18105 | access-date=4 March 2022 | archive-date=4 March 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304000549/https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-sued-diamond-magnates-family-impersonatio-rcna18105 | url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2022, they filed another criminal complaint against Hayut for damaging the family's name.<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 July 2022 |title=Leviev family submits criminal complaint against 'Tinder Swindler' Hayut |url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-712096 |access-date=2022-07-14 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en-US |archive-date=14 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220714195551/https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-712096 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.
On 15 September 2025, he was arrested at the request of Interpol after landing at the Batumi International Airport in Georgia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-09-15 |title='Tinder Swindler' Leviev arrested upon Georgia arrival |url=https://www.jpost.com/omg/article-867462 |access-date=2025-09-15 |website=The Jerusalem Post |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2025-09-15 |title=‘Tinder Swindler’ Leviev arrested in Georgia |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/tinder-swindler-leviev-arrested-in-georgia/ |access-date=2025-09-15 |work=The Times of Israel |language=en-US |issn=0040-7909}}</ref>
On 14 November 2025 his attorneys Sharon Nahari and Mariam Kublaschwili announced that Leviev has been released from prison in Georgia without any sanctions. According to the legal team, German authorities had ended the enquiry due to a lack of evidence and cancelled the extradition request which had been the basis for his arrest.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-11-14 |title= Ohne jegliche Auflagen: „Tinder-Schwindler“ Simon Leviev aus georgischer Haft entlassen |url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/gesellschaft/panorama/ohne-jegliche-auflagen-tinder-schwindler-simon-leviev-aus-georgischer-haft-entlassen-14847611.html |access-date=2025-11-16 |website=Tagesspiegel.de}}</ref>
== In popular culture == In 2022, Netflix released a video documentary, ''The Tinder Swindler'', which describes his story as told by three women.<ref name="Cumming 2022">{{cite web |last=Cumming |first=Ed |date=5 February 2022 |title=The Tinder Swindler tells the story of a cruel yet charismatic conman – review |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-netflix-lld-diamonds-b2008325.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208194403/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-netflix-lld-diamonds-b2008325.html |archive-date=8 February 2022 |access-date=6 February 2022 |website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Vernon|first=Polly|date=1 February 2022|title=I was in love with the Tinder Swindler|language=en|work=The Times|url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/i-was-in-love-with-the-tinder-swindler-jflx3wb7q|access-date=2022-02-18|issn=0140-0460|archive-date=18 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218165015/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-was-in-love-with-the-tinder-swindler-jflx3wb7q|url-status=live}}</ref> According to ''The Washington Post'', it became the most watched documentary on Netflix following its release, 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title='Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev Joins Cameo, Signs With Manager: Inside His Hollywood Plans {{!}} Entertainment Tonight|url=https://www.etonline.com/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-joins-cameo-signs-with-manager-inside-his-hollywood-plans-179407|access-date=2022-02-22|website=www.etonline.com|language=en-US|archive-date=22 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222191831/https://www.etonline.com/tinder-swindler-simon-leviev-joins-cameo-signs-with-manager-inside-his-hollywood-plans-179407|url-status=live}}</ref>
In February 2025, Simon Leviev launched his own crypto coin TIND.
In August 2025, Simon Leviev released his biography titled "I am Simon Leviev."{{cn|date=January 2025}}<ref>https://moviedelic.com/simon-leviev/</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/tindersvindleren/english/ ''The Tinder Swindler''] at VG.no * [https://www.psychvarsity.com/The-Tinder-Swindler-Simon-Leviev-Finally-Speaks-Up-With-Inside-Edition-In-Feb-2023 Simon Leviev claims to be completely innocent in Feb 2023]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Leviev, Simon}} Category:1990 births Category:Living people Category:Israeli Jews Category:People from Bnei Brak Category:Israeli businesspeople