Tinder Swindler artist Simon Leviev arrested in Georgia

A condemned horse artist who was the subject of a popular documentary on Netflix in 2022, Tinder Swindler, has been arrested in Georgia, local officials said.

Israeli Simon Leviev was removed at the request of Interpol after arriving at Batumi Airport in the southwestern part of the country, the Georgia Ministry said on Monday.

The 34 -year -old Leviev gained fame after an investigative documentary revealed a series of romance fraud and financial crimes, including approximately $ 10 million ($ 7.4 million pounds).

He is said to have posed as the wealthy heir to a diamond tycoon in the Tinder dating app and deceived women to borrow him large sums of money that he has never paid. Earlier Leviev denied the allegations.

Authorities did not immediately provide details about the reason for the arrest of Leveev, whose real name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut.

In 2019, Leviev was sentenced to four charges of fraud in a separate case and sentenced to 15 months in prison, but he was released after only five months.

According to Israel Ynet’s website, his lawyer told reporters that Leviev was “traveling freely around the world”.

“I talked to him this morning after he was detained, but we still don’t understand the reason,” they said after his arrest in Georgia.

Between 2017 and 2019, Leveev’s catfish scheme – creating a fake online person – included lure women in romantic relationships with an extravagant lifestyle of private aircraft and luxury holidays.

His victims shared their stories in the documentary series, saying that they were courted by Leviev with glamorous gifts and escapes to gain their trust.

They said that Leveev would later pretend to be persecuted by his “enemies” and ask them to transfer significant sums of money before interrupting all contacts.

Cecili Fjellhøy, one of the women included in the Netflix series, said she had given Leveev more than $ 270,000 in the course of their relationship.

Last year, another woman Irene Traniov filed a lawsuit against Leviev in Israel for 414,000 Shekela (91,000 British pounds), stating that she had loan to him more than 144,000 shekela (£ 31,000), which he had never paid.

Earlier, Leviev told BBC Newsbeat that he categorically denied the allegations made against him in the documentary.

Speaking to the BBC in 2023, Kate Connlin, a former girlfriend of Leveev, also accused him of emotional and physical violence while they were together.

During the dispute d -Ja conlin said she pushed her and she trimmed her leg with a rough edge.

“I was bleeding. I felt dead. I wanted to kill myself,” she said.

After going to the hospital, she filed a complaint against Leviev to the police.

Later, Leviev rejected the allegations and said he had never harmed any woman physically.

Tinder Swindler became Netflix’s most watched documentary in 90 countries when it was released in February 2022.