The Tinder Swindler's crimes have become international news with the release of the
recent Netflix documentary, but what has Simon Leviev been up to since the film's release?
And the most important question: is he single?
"The Tinder Swindler" documentary touches on the stories of three of Simon Leviev's
reported victims: Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman, and Pernilla Sjöholm,
but they actually don't have anything to do with the crimes that led to his arrest.
Instead, he was wanted in Israel for fraud, theft, and forgery charges that dated all the way back to
2011. According to The Times of Israel, he had already fled the country twice in an attempt to
dodge the charges, which related to two stolen checkbooks. In short: he was an active fugitive.
When Leviev was finally arrested in 2019, he was extradited to his home country and
convicted. He ended up serving just five months of his 15-month prison sentence. In this case,
the coronavirus pandemic worked out in his favor. Israel thinned their prison
population as cases soared, and Leviev got a lucky break for good behavior.
Today, the Tinder swindler is a free man — and his victims
are disgusted. Sjoholm told The Times of Israel,
"How can you give trust to a man like that, who escaped from Israel twice? A man that deceived
and swindled women in Europe for hundreds of thousands of euros. Where is the justice?"
Since his release, it looks like the Tinder swindler has somehow maintained his luxury
lifestyle. Bustle caught a glimpse of his Instagram account before it was deactivated
and spotted the fraudster flaunting his ridiculous wealth with the usual smattering of sports cars,
private planes, and designer clothes. On social media,
there's no evidence that Leviev has ever stooped to taking a commercial flight,
but it's also not clear how he maintains his extravagant lifestyle.
Bustle, who reported on the swindler's personal website before it was taken down,
says Leviev claimed to be worth tens of millions of dollars thanks to Bitcoin and real estate
investments. Maybe he took the stolen money and invested wisely. No one really knows.
You won't have to worry about running into the Tinder swindler on another dating app.
Simon Leviev — or whatever name he's been using — has been permanently
banned from a swath of popular dating apps including Tinder, Hinge, Match, and OkCupid.
It should be noted that squashing fake profiles is a little bit like playing whack-a-mole. For now,
Tinder confirmed to USA Today that "Leviev and any of his known aliases are no longer active on" the
dating platform. He was banned back in 2019, and Tinder caught him trying to make another account
in 2021. The dating app also created a fact sheet to help online daters avoid similar scams.
Since his conviction and the Netflix documentary, Simon Leviev has been working hard to rehab his
image. According to Radar, he hired a marketing company to help him change the narrative about
his past. They reportedly placed puff pieces in the media highlighting his business skills
and Jewish faith. One of those alleged puff pieces went as far as calling him a hero.
Throughout everything, Leviev has fiercely maintained his innocence. Before he axed his
Instagram account, he wrote a post assuring his followers that he would share his side of
the story. Not long after, he railed against the accusations in an Instagram Story where he said,
"If I was a fraud, why would I act on Netflix? I mean they should have
arrested me when we were still shooting. It's high time the ladies start saying the truth."
"I will proceed with the lawsuit against you for defam-in-ation and lies and
you know, that everything is based, basically, on a lie."
Now that his bogus "diamond heir" story has been exposed, Simon Leviev has moved on to
different business ventures. According to Radar, he was living at a hotel in May 2020
and told reporters that he was collaborating with Netflix and had dreams of becoming a politician.
As we saw in the doc, he started offering business workshops on his now-defunct website.
Radar says he charged $311 a pop, and his former girlfriend claimed
one of the workshops he hosted in Tel Aviv had dozens of attendees.
Leviev has also positioned himself as a real estate connoisseur. An article in Vents
Magazine claimed the so-called millionaire, quote, "has played the high stakes in the
world of real estate for years" and become "an international-level expert as a real
estate advisor." The magazine also alleged that he was working on a Netflix biopic,
which is decidedly not the same thing as the true crime documentary that we ultimately got.
As Esquire reports, Simon Leviev was wanted all across Europe when he was arrested for
the unrelated crimes he committed in Israel. He reportedly had cops looking for him in Sweden,
Denmark, Germany, Norway, and England. Things don't exactly appear to be settled, either. In
fact, this could be the beginning of a long legal road if he ever tries to leave his home country.
According to a report in The Times of Israel,
a number of women are preparing to file lawsuits against the Tinder Swindler.
A woman, who was referred to by the initial "A," told the newspaper,
"Private investigators and Interpol people are waiting for him to leave Israel to arrest him.
He ruined my life and shattered me emotionally and financially.
I will never forgive him in my life for what he did to me. He will pay dearly
for his actions and we will make sure he will go to prison for many years."
For now, the future is unwritten. It's not clear if the victims will ever receive justice,
though the trio featured in the documentary have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help pay
their debts. The only thing that is clear is that Leviev's alleged scam was a big money maker — if
not for the conman, then for Netflix. According to Variety, after the overwhelming success of the
documentary, the streaming service is in "early talks" to transform it into a narrative movie.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite celebs and scandals are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.