‘Tinder Swindler’ Simon Leviev freed after two months in prison

A ‘conman’ who was the focus of a 2022 Netflix documentary, The Tinder Swindler, has been freed from prison in Georgia.

Simon Leviev rose to notoriety for allegedly scamming an estimated £7.6 million from multiple women he met on the dating app where he posed as the son of a diamond mogul.

The 35-year-old was arrested at Interpol’s request after arriving at Batumi Airport in the country’s south-west on September 15.

Since then, Leviev has been held in a penitentiary facility in the western city of Kutaisi.

The Israeli national was released ‘without any conditions’ after Germany withdrew its extradition request.

His lawyer, Mariam Kublashvili, told journalists that the case against him was fully closed, adding that he was not required to post bail, sign any legal undertakings or accept travel restrictions.

She said German prosecutors had opened a case against Leviev following a complaint from a woman in Berlin who alleged that he defrauded her of up to £44,000 after meeting her on Tinder.

He had faced up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

It is still not clear why German authorities have dropped the case, although Kublashvili attributed the decision to a ‘lack of evidence.’

His scheme became one of the most notorious examples of ‘catfishing’ – creating a false online persona to lure victims into emotional and financial entanglements.

Before changing his name, Leviev was born Shimon Yehuda Hayut.

Between 2017 and 2019, he is alleged to have been taking his Tinder dates out on a glamorous outings, using elaborate and expensive props including bodyguards and private jets.

The Netflix documentary suggested that after gaining the women’s trust, he would message them to say his credit card was out of action and ask them to open a new one in their name for him to use.

Pernilla Sjöholm, one of his alleged victims, praised Berlin police ‘for doing the work that apparently no other country could do’ shortly after Leviev was arrested in Batumi.

At the time, she told Metro that it took her more than two years to recover from the impact of being scammed after meeting Leviev on Tinder.

She said: ‘I lost everything and felt like there was no future. I got blamed quite a lot for not knowing that he wasn’t who he said he was.’

Sjöholm lost friends as the deceit unravelled, and the betrayal and shame weighed on her, as they do to many fraud victims, whose care and generosity has been preyed on. 

‘Back in 2019, being defrauded meant I have lower intelligence. I am a stupid person and it’s just embarrassing to be seen with me,’ she said. ‘So that was very hurtful.’

Leviev previously told Metro his accusers were ‘liars’ and ‘paid actresses’.

He denied that he had ever taken money from women, and claiming the truth would be revealed in his upcoming book and film.

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