The man accused of being a “Tinder Swindler” in the Netflix documentary of the same name is now being sued by the family of an Israelian diamond mogul.
Simon Leviev, who’s real name is Shimon Hayut, is the focus of The Tinder Swindler, the popular documentary which dropped on the streaming platform in February.
In the documentary, three women claim to have been swindled out hundreds of thousands of pounds from Leviev after matching with him on a dating app.
The women say Hayut uses his alias and claims to be the son of Israelian diamond mogul, Lev Leviev. The documentary later proved Hayut was not Leviev’s son and revealed his real name.
Last week, during Hayut’s first interview since the documentary aired, he told Inside Edition that he’s not the son of Leviev and “never presented himself to be”.
However, in a document obtained by E! News on 28 February, Hayut is now being sued by the Leviev family for impersonation.
“Shimon Hayut is a fraud who stole our family’s identity and has tried to exploit our good name to con victims out of millions of dollars,” Leviev’s daughter, Chagit Leviev, told E! News in a statement.
She continued: “He has no relation to the Leviev family and has no affiliation with our company LLD Diamonds. I am relieved that his real identity and actions have been globally exposed, and hopefully this will bring an end to his unscrupulous actions.”
The multi-million dollar lawsuit sees members of the Leviev family listed as plaintiffs alongside LLD Diamonds USA, LLC.
It states that Hayut has been making “false representations as being the son of Lev Leviev and receiving numerous benefits (including material ones)”.
The document also claims Hayut “defrauded, cheated, conned, falsified, and hurt women, men and businesses”.
In last week’s interview, Hayut said he was a “legit businessman” who made his money through bitcoin.
He also pushed back on accusations that he is the Tinder Swindler by saying that he is “not the monster that everyone else has created”.
When asked about the women in the documentary, Hayut said the women “weren’t conned” and “weren’t threatened” and that he didn’t feel bad for what happened to them.
Hayut added: “I feel bad for something I didn’t do? No. I feel bad for whatever happened to myself. I want to clear my name, I want to tell the world this isn’t true.”
