Simon Leviev – aka Shimon Hayut or, indeed, The Tinder Swindler – has landed himself an LA based agent and is hoping to crack Hollywood.
The 31-year-old is the subject of a shocking Netflix documentary which sees a trio of women claim they were duped out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by the con-man – while the figure turns to millions when claims by a string of other victims are considered.
He had already been jailed in 2015 for fraud and is wanted in several countries around the world for a number of fraud accusations – although he has attempted to deny he is a fraudster.
But now Simon has his sights set on Hollywood and has been signed by talent agent Gina Rodriguez who runs a company called Gitoni and whose other clients include Mama June and is said to want to appear on Dancing With The Stars.
A source told The Sun on Sunday: “Simon clearly has no shame or no concern for what the Netflix series did to him.
“He sees it as an opportunity to use that fame and Gina is the right person to guide him on that journey.
“He’d love to land a big glitzy show like Dancing With The Stars.”
Simon has already previously tried to deny the accusations made against him in the shocking Netflix documentary, saying: “I’m not a fraud and I’m not a fake. People don’t know me – so they cannot judge me.”
While Gina herself has hinted she really has decided to take a punt on the convicted fraudster.
She said in an Instagram post issued on Thursday: “I watched the Netflix show Tinder Swindler and it felt incomplete because we never heard the other side.
“The narrative seemed very biased and I couldn’t form an opinion instead I had more questions and I am a woman. This is why I reached out to @just_simon_leviev.”
She added: “There are always 2 sides. Like or hate it, I want to hear his side.”
Last week, TMZ reported that Simon was floating the idea of a dating show as he is trying to reinvent himself as an entertainment business mogul.
They reported: “Simon's idea for a potential dating show includes women competing for his love ... and he's interested in sharing dating dos and don'ts on a potential podcast.”
While their report also added: “Simon is claiming the Netflix show got him all wrong, and he's looking to clear his name.”
In the documentary, three female victims explained how he allegedly conned them out of thousands of pounds.
One victim, Cecilie Fjellhøy, claimed she matched with him on Tinder and agreed to fly away with him on a trip to a five star hotel abroad following a single one hour coffee date.
She then fell in love with him as they wined and dined their way around fancy restaurants – seemingly all funded by other women who were being duped by Simon; who claimed to be the son of a billionaire.
The fraudster then claimed he was being tracked by ‘enemies’ who could turn violent and desperately turned to his tinder matches, including Cecilie, for financial support – only to disappear without ever repaying the tens of thousands he convinced them to hand over.
It is estimated he conned a number of women out of $10 million (£7.4 million) between 2017 and 2019.
