The man who allegedly conned several women is also pursing a podcast and book deal.
Fans of Netflix's Tinder Swindler documentary may not have seen the last of Simon Leviev.
In the doc, which is currently one of the most-watched movies on Netflix, Leviev, born Shimon Hayut, is said to have posed as a wealthy, jet-setting diamond mogul in order to woo women on Tinder and then con them out of money. The documentary does not say how many people Leviev allegedly swindled, but estimates he made around $10 million.
Leviev has since been banned from the online dating app, and upon the release of the doc announced via Instagram Story that he was preparing to tell his version of events. While his Instagram account has also been deleted altogether, ET can confirm that Leviev has signed on with a talent manager, Gina Rodriguez of Gitoni Inc., in hopes of pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. ET is told he's looking into a potential podcast, hosting a dating show, and/or writing a book.
"I was intrigued with the Netflix story. I saw the world's greatest salesman," Rodriguez tells ET of representing the alleged con artist. "It left me with a lot of unanswered questions and was very biased. I believe there are two sides to every story and everyone should have the chance to tell their side of the story."
Just this week, Leviev joined Cameo, a place fans can request personalized videos from thousands of stars, and apparently alleged con artists, for a price. Leviev is charging $300 for personalized video messages and $1,400 for business ones.
Meanwhile, ET's Denny Directo spoke with the Tinder Swindler journalists, who reacted to Leviev possibly telling his side of the story, which he declined to do in the documentary, despite being asked.
"I think he would defiantly say that his teams are lying and that he's telling the truth," Erlend Ofte Arntsen says. "At no point during our work with this story, or the Netflix team that's been working with it later on, has he shown any remorse or afterthought for what he's been doing to dozens of people in Europe and across the globe."
ET also spoke with Cecilie Fjellhøy, who claims in the documentary that between 2017 and 2019, she was swindled by Leviev and alleges she took out $250,000 worth of loans, all of which she says he spent and has never repaid.
Fjellhøy, who is from Norway but lives in the United Kingdom, says all these years later she is bankrupt in the U.K. and is "still struggling" with her creditors in Norway.
"I destroyed my life in two countries," she tells ET. "So when people are saying and wanting me to take responsibility for my actions, I feel I've done that."
After all this, Fjellhøy admits that she has had some contact with Leviev. "I just wrote to him like, 'Oh, I understand why you have to have so many meetings with your lawyer.' And then he said like, 'Good luck. I see everything and know everything.' ...And then he said, 'Your lies made me a superstar.'"
Fjellhøy adds, "Everyone is asking me like, 'Oh, what do you think he's going to say?' And I was like, 'Well, this guy would lie until he dies. He will never admit it.' That's what's going to be painful for us as victims. We can't say that we're going to heal when he's going to admit to what he did, because he's never going to admit to what he did."
Fjellhøy says she now pities Leviev. "He has a very empty life," she laments. "He has no family, no friends to really care about him. He needs help."
As for whether Fjellhøy is putting herself back out there, she tells ET that there's "maybe someone" romantic in her life.
"With me, you never know. ...Too many times I told my mom, 'Oh, I met this man.' Then two weeks later, 'Oh, what happened to him?' I'm like, 'I don't know,'" she says. "...This has never been for me that I have given up on love or anything. I didn't want [Simon] to take that away from me. He did not deserve to do that."
Since the release of Tinder Swindler, Fjellhøy, along with Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte, who also say Leviev swindled them out of money, have started a GoFundMe page to help get themselves out of debt.
As for time served by Leviev, The Times of Israel reports that he was sentenced in Israel to 15 months in prison for fraud in 2019 but was only in there for five months.
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