Ostap Bender of our time: how a swindler, pretending to be the son of an Israeli millionaire, defrauded American women of $10 million

In 2018 and 2019, 31-year-old Shimon Hayut tricked several women into giving him hundreds of thousands of dollars under the pseudonym Simon Leviev. The scammer whose scams are the subject of a new Netflix documentary has deleted an Instagram account where he flaunted pictures of his luxurious lifestyle, reports Dailymail.

Photo: Shutterstock

Netflix has released a new documentary about his tricks, which has generated widespread media coverage and increased public backlash against Shimon, who seems to have become somewhat shy of publicity in light of the renewed talk about him.

So much so that the convicted conman decided to delete his social media account, which he regularly updated with snippets of his luxurious lifestyle, from photos of him posing in private jets to videos of him driving expensive cars.

Shimon, who was eventually arrested and charged with fraud, theft and forgery, spent five months in prison before being released for "good behavior" in May 2020.

However, shortly after his release from prison, he began sharing photos of himself enjoying a luxurious life on Instagram and continued to flaunt his glamorous activities until the entire account was deleted on February 4. Just a month after he was released, he posted a picture of himself on a boat, cigar in hand, surrounded by alcohol.

“Let summer begin,” he captioned the photo.

Back in November, the swindler posted a lot of videos in which he flies in a private jet.

And a week before, he shared a video of himself riding in his bright red convertible, smiling for the camera and giving a thumbs up.

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Other posts over the past year have shown him throwing parties on a yacht, eating at expensive restaurants, staying in five-star hotels, taking numerous helicopter flights, skydiving and vacationing all over the world.

February 4 he reached out to Netflix, writing on his Instagram story, "Thank you for all your support. I will share my version of this story in the next few days as I choose the best and most respectful way to tell it to both the parties involved and myself. Until then, please keep an open mind and heart.”

However, after a few hours, the account completely disappeared.

In the February 2 Netflix documentary, three of his victims — Cecily Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Eileen Charlotte — recount how Shimon convinced them to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to him.

Shimon, who, according to People magazine, stole about $10 million over several years, told them he was the son of Israeli diamond dealer Lev Leviev.

The Times of Isreal reported that while Lev and his LLD Diamonds diamond business are real, he has nothing to do with Shimon and "has filed a police complaint against him for falsely presenting himself as his son."

Norwegian graduate student Cecily, who was 29 when she dated Shimon, claimed to have given Shimon more than $270 during their relationship after they met via Tinder in January 000.

In the document, she explained that Shimon courted her beautifully as they flew to Bulgaria and London in a private jet on their first date.

He showered women he met on a dating app with expensive trips and luxurious gifts, using money he had taken from his other victims.

He then asked them for funds, claiming that he was in danger and needed money to protect his life from people who wanted to kill him because of his dangerous diamond business.

Shimon was eventually arrested - after being caught with a fake passport - and was convicted in December 2019. He was released the following May after serving five months of a 15-month sentence.

He was also ordered to pay his victims $43 and pay a $289 fine under the terms of the plea deal. Earlier in 2015, Shimon served two years in a Finnish prison after he was charged with cheating on three different women.

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He was also reportedly forced to leave his native country of Israel in 2011 to escape punishment for fraud-related crimes he committed when he was in his early 20s.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• Russian woman, posing as a millionaire in New York, deceived tens of thousands of dollars.

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