Lev Leviev's Firm Denounces Tinder Swindler
February 06, 22
(IDEX Online) - The diamond company LLD has issued a statement distancing itself from the Israeli conman Shimon Hayut, who posed as the son of its billionaire founder Lev Leviev.
It says it has no connection whatsoever with him and denounces him as a fraud who tried to exploit the company's good name
Hayut is the subject of The Tinder Swindler, a true-crime documentary currently streaming on Netflix.
It tells how he seduced numerous women over the Tinder dating app with his jet set lifestyle, then persuaded them to hand over money with claims that his life was being threatened.
Hayut, 31, (pictured) legally changed his name to Simon Leviev, posed as CEO of the company and styled himself as Prince of Diamonds.
LLD responded to last week's release of the movie, saying: "Our company has no connection whatsoever with Shimon Hayut. He is a fraud who has tried to exploit our good name to con victims out of millions of dollars.
"Our sympathies go out to his victims. His fraud has also caused ongoing confusion about our company. Nothing he has said, about LLD or anything else, should be believed.
"As soon as we learned of the fraud, we filed a complaint with the Israeli police, and we hope that Mr Hayut faces the justice he deserves."
Hayut was eventually arrested in Athens and was later jailed in Israel in December 2019. He was released early because of coronavirus and served only five months of a 15-month term.