Netflix’s Tinder Swindler Sued By Real Family Of Diamond Magnate
The real Leviev are furious that Simon pretended to be the 'Prince of Diamonds'.
The man behind Netflix's The Tinder Swindler has been hit with a damning lawsuit for claiming to be the son of the 'King of Diamonds'.
Simon Leviev has found himself in a bit of trouble with the real Leviev family, who are now trying to take him to court.
If you haven't seen the truly bonkers documentary you might be confused, so we're going to let you in on a little secret (spoilers dead ahead). This guy is no relation to the real life Israel-Russian business magnate Lev Leviev.
He became the target of a Netflix documentary because he swindled a bunch of women by claiming to be a member of the Leviev family, who are mega famous for their diamond empire.
Simon, whose birth name was Shimon Yehuda Hayut, spent the better half of a decade traipsing around Europe pretending to be super wealthy.
He would suck women in by showing off his enormous wealth on social media before conning them out of large chunks of cash.
It all came crashing down in 2015 for Simon after he was convicted of defrauding three women in Finland.
As soon as he was released he started the ruse up again, before being arrested in Greece for using a fake passport. He served only five months in an Israeli prison and his victims were left to deal with the damage.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the real-life Leviev family were less than impressed by Simon pretending to be the son of Lev Leviev.
So now they're suing the pants off their fake relative for associating their name with such uncouth behaviour.
Lawyers for the family filed the criminal complaint in Tel Aviv's Magistrates Court and have accused Simon of using their family name for 'criminal purposes'.
Attorney Guy Ophir revealed in a statement that this is the first of many complaints that will be levied against the Tinder Swindler.
In a statement translated from Hebrew, Mr Ophir revealed that the family 'intends to donate the money it obtains [from Hayut] to its other victims'.
That money would also include profits from his newfound fame, including cash earned from his Cameo account.
Announcing his new venture with a video on the site, Leviev told the world: "Hi everybody, I'm so excited to be here on Cameo. I'm Simon Leviev. If you want any blessing, any birthday - whatever - shoutout, I'm so excited to be here.
"Wishing you a great and magnificent day, everybody. Take care."
A video shoutout from the convicted fraudster will set you back at least AUD$277 (£148), or north of AUD$1,389 (£751) if you're a company and for some reason want to expose your employees to this guy.
In his first comments since the Netflix documentary captivated people all over the world, he said he's not a fake.
Speaking to Inside Edition, Leviev, said: "I'm not a Tinder Swindler. I'm not a fraud and I'm not a fake. People don't know me - so they cannot judge me.
"I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder."
Featured Image Credit: Netflix/Instagram/@simon_leviev_officialTopics: Entertainment, TV and Film, True Crime, crime, Tinder, Netflix, tinder swindler, simon leviev
Rachel Lang