“Tinder Swindler” Says He Got Rich From Bitcoin, Not By Scamming Women

The “Tinder Swindler” is firing back at the women who lost millions of dollars to him in a new interview with Inside Edition.

Simon Leviev, whose real name is Shimon Hayut, appeared on the show Monday dripped down in Dior, seemingly the same affluent con artist he has always been. However, Hayut says people have the wrong idea of him, following Netflix’s “The Tinder Swindler,” which documented the women he dated and conned out of money during the relationships.

“I’m not this monster,” he explained, “I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder.”

According to the wildly popular doc, Hayut pretended to be Simon Leviev, the son of a billionaire diamond investor. His victims said that he would claim to be in danger due to the nature of his business, which caused them to send him large sums of money. What the women didn’t know was that he was using the money to fund his lifestyle and spend it on other women. Hayut says he wants to “clear his name” because he never threatened the women or defrauded them. In an interesting twist, Hayut also says he never pretended to be the son of Russian-Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, despite adopting his last name.

Hayut maintains that he is a “legit businessman” who invested money in Bitcoin in 2011, which has afforded him the comfortable life he still lives today. He has also joined Cameo, where he sells personalized videos, in addition to his own T-shirt company and a new NFT collection. Hayut also has his sights set on Hollywood, recently signing with celebrity talent agent Gina Rodriguez.

He is now planning to sue Netflix for defamation.