The now infamous Tinder Swindler has given his first interview since the hit Netflix documentary. And, rather predictably, he has some things to say about his victims, who have accused him of scamming them out of hundreds of thousands of pounds. In the documentary, Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, and Ayleen Charlotte claim they were duped by Shimon Hayut - who was pretending to be Simon Leviev, the son of a billionaire diamond mogul - into giving him money, which he never returned.
But now, following the documentary, Simon has defended his now shattered reputation. 'I’m not this monster,' he said, speaking in an exclusive interview to Inside Edition. 'I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder.' (OK then.)
He also says he never claimed to be the son of LLD Diamonds' Lev Leviev, and that he does not feel bad for the women in the show as 'they weren't conned and they weren't threatened'. As for his current lifestyle? Well, according to him, that's because he's a 'legit businessman' who gained his wealth through... bitcoin. (He won't say how much it's worth, though.)
So, it turns out Simon has finally given his side of the story, like he promised when he deleted his Instagram account. The day after the documentary dropped, he gained over 200,000 followers on Instagram. But it didn't last long, as the conman's account vanished - after saying he would give his side. 'I will share my side of the story in the next few days when I have sorted out the best and most respectful way to tell it, both to the involved parties and myself,' he wrote. 'Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.'
As was revealed at the end of the show, Hayut is still a free man - he served five months of a 15-month prison sentence in Israel for fraud charges in 2019, but these charges were not related to conning Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, and Ayleen Charlotte who featured in the documentary. Now, he's even flogging video messages on celebrity video site Cameo. Meanwhile, Cecilie, Pernilla and Ayleen have since raised over £160,000 on GoFundMe to help recoup some of their debts.
READ MORE: The Tinder Swindler Deletes His Instagram - After Promising To Tell 'His Side Of The Story'