The man at the center of Netflix’s new documentary The Tinder Swindler has been banned from Tinder and other Match Group Inc. dating apps and sites, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
A Tinder spokesperson said that the service banned “Simon Leviev” — one alias of Shimon Hayut, who stands accused of conning targets he met on Tinder — when the Norwegian publication VG published a story reporting claims against him, and that he is permanently banned from the dating app. “In the lead-up to the release of the documentary, we conducted additional internal investigations and can confirm Simon Leviev is not active on Tinder under any of his known aliases,” the spokesperson added. (When The Tinder Swindler premiered on Feb. 2, the film noted that Hayut was still on the service.)
Furthermore, Hayut now can no longer use other apps and sites owned by Tinder parent company Match Group Inc., such as Match.com, OkCupid, Hinge, PlentyOfFish and others.
The Tinder Swindler, directed by Don’t F**k With Cats producer Felicity Morris, tells the stories of women Hayut met on Tinder and developed relationships with while allegedly giving them the impression he was the son and heir of Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev. Claiming he was in danger, Hayut allegedly would ask marks to send him money to help him out. Prior to most of the events depicted in the film, Hayut faced multiple charges in Israel and was convicted and sentenced to prison in Finland.
The Tinder Swindler filmmakers reached out to Hayut to appear in the film and included voice notes in response that denied fraud claims and said Hayut would file a lawsuit for “defamation and lies.” (The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to Netflix for comment.)
On Friday, Hayut claimed he would soon give his version of events via his Instagram account, according to Variety; however, the account has since been deactivated. Various Instagram accounts in Hayut’s and Leviev’s names currently exist, but it is unclear if they actually belong to Hayut.
THR has also reached out to Instagram to see if the platform has taken any action against Hayut and did not receive a response as of press time.
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