Kriti Mehrotra
Shimon Yehuda Hayut, better known as Simon Leviev, is an Israeli con artist who has genuinely broken all bounds when it comes to dating scams for needlessly cruel and selfish benefits. After all, as examined on Netflix’s ‘The Tinder Swindler,’ he appeared to lead a jet-setting life full of grand vacations, designer clothes, and high-powered business meetings, but the truth is that none of it was his own doing. So now, if you’re curious to find out more about his past, his professional trajectory, his actual earnings, and his overall net worth, we’ve got the details for you.
How Did Simon Leviev Earn His Money?
Simon Leviev, born in September 1990 as Shimon Hayut, began his career as a professional fraudster during his late teens by stealing and falsifying checks in his homeland, as per the documentary. His victims back then were employers and unsuspecting individuals alike, leading him to get charged with counts of fraud, theft, as well as robbery in 2011 — at the age of 21. However, Simon fled the country before he could head to an Israeli court for the same, meaning that he evolved into a fugitive that somehow ended up in Finland by the time 2015 came around.
That same year, as Shimon, he was sentenced to two years in a Finnish prison for embezzling £167,000 (more than $225,000) from three local women with the help of his alluring charm. He was released in March 2017 and quickly deported to Israel, but before the authorities could proceed with the pending 2011 indictments against him, he again went on the lam. This time, though, he legally changed his name to Simon Leviev, leading people to believe that he was the son of real-life diamond mogul Lev Leviev and soon became known as the “Prince of Diamonds.”
From there, Simon took the aid of a phony team, luxurious cars (seemingly rented), designer clothes, and a private plane to maintain the illusion of being well-off to impress the targets he’d handpicked through Tinder. Thus, once he formed a connection with them and requested financial support owing to “security concerns” over his “enemies” tracking him down, none of them hesitated, believing that he had the capacity to pay back. Yet, that never happened, especially as Simon always used the money from his “friends” or “girlfriends” on other women to keep the sham going.
Apart from this, according to the Netflix original, Simon has also manipulated people by pretending to be the heir of an Israeli airline, a babysitter, a Mossad agent working undercover as a pilot, and a businessman (who never paid for his expensive vehicles). It is believed that he has swindled over $10 million from countless victims in more than seven countries in the past decade or so.
What is Simon Leviev’s Net Worth?
Simon Leviev’s hoaxes ensured that nothing could be traced back to him, which means that none of the assets (or liabilities) were ever in his name. He did make quite a bit of money through his partners, but it appears as if he blew most of it on parties, vacations, or gifts for other women. Hence, now that he has served time in Israeli prison, his only means of income seems to be from the online consultancy business he recently launched under his name.
That makes his net worth fall in the range of $500,000, if that, as per our estimates. Although, we should mention that Simon’s private social media platforms indicate that he doesn’t have any financial constraints and is back to living an extravagant life.
Read More: Is LLD Diamonds a Real Company? Is Simon Leviev a Real CEO?
