Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary The Tinder Swindler revolves around the treacherous exploits of a misleading Ponzi scheme run by the infamous Simon Hayut who tricked several women of hundreds and thousands of dollars.
Hayut is of Israeli descent and had adopted the alias name of Simon Leviev, posing as a rich diamond heir to lure women into his calculative schemes.
Directed by Felicity Morris, the documentary shows how the women were conned by Leviev’s alleged display of wealth and affluence via which he scammed nearly $10 million from his victims.
Hayut had previously deactivated his Instagram account, promising to return with his version of the story. Now, he is back with fresh claims to defend his name against all the allegations.
On his social media handle, Leviev wrote in his stories, “If I was a fraud why would I act on Netflix I mean they should have arrested me when we were still shooting”.
He asked the ladies to “start saying the truth” before making an extremely misogynistic statement, claiming, “if you can’t give them [women] the world, they’ll turn yours to hell.”
Hayut was jailed in Israel for using a fake passport and sentenced to prison. However, due to his good behaviour, he was released just five months in and continues to be a free man.
His freedom indicates how the justice system collectively failed the victims Cecilie Fjellhoy, Ayleen Koeleman and Pernilla Sjoholm in seeking justice against this fraudulent perpetrator.
The three victims have started a GoFundMe page to raise money for debt repayments.
Watch The Tinder Swindler on Netflix now.
