'Tinder Swindler' says he is a legit businessman who invested in Bitcoin

Shimon Hayut, who posed as a wealthy diamond mogul known as 'Simon Leviev' in the hit documentary 'Tinder Swindler', said during an interview with Inside Edition, that he acquired his wealth through a Bitcoin investment he had initially made in 2011.

“I’m a legit businessman, I bought bitcoin in 2011, which [was then worth] nothing, I don't need to say how much it's worth now.”

In the interview, Hayut explained that he is not the fraud that many people believe him to be, stating that he “was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on tinder.”

He added: “I’m not a fraud and I’m not a fake. People don’t know me so they cannot judge me.”

In the documentary, the three victims, Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte were made to believe that Hayut was the son of a diamond mogul.

In the interview, he said that he is not and he ‘never presented myself as such.’ 

Hayut said he was equally as surprised that women on the app wanted to spend their money on him even before meeting him.

“I was surprised how many girls wanted me and how many girls offered to travel to meet me without them knowing me,” he said. “I'm not this monster that everybody has created.”

“I want to clear my name, I want to say to the world, this is not true,” Hayut said.

Hayut’s girlfriend, who joined the interview, later on, vouched for him and questioned how anyone could pull off such an elaborate stunt. 

 “My God, how someone can build such a fake stunt?” she said.

Shimon was exposed for conning Cecilie Schrøder Fjellhøy and Pernilla Sjoholm thousands of dollars, leaving them debt-ridden and desperate.

Hayut has since been deleted from dating apps such as Tinder, Match.com, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish and others.