Tinder Swindler’s Simon Leviev signs with talent manager, is looking to break into entertainment industry

If you’ve watched Tinder Swindler on Netflix, then you probably know who Simon Leviev is. The documentary follows Leviev – born Shimon Hayut – as he poses as a wealthy diamond mogul to woo women online and then con them of their money.

Now, it appears that Leviev is looking to leverage his newfound notoriety to break into the entertainment industry.

Entertainment portal ET reported on Wednesday (Feb 16) that Leviev has signed with a talent manager – Gina Rodriguez of Gitoni Inc – and is looking to break into showbiz, through a potential podcast, dating show or a book deal. 

Even though the documentary painted a bad picture of Leviev, Rodriguez told ET that she saw the “world’s greatest salesman”, and admitted that she was “intrigued with the Netflix story”. 

Rodriguez felt that the documentary’s portrayal of the 31-year-old was “very biased”, adding that it left her with many “unanswered questions”. 

“I believe there are two sides to every story and everyone should have the chance to tell their side of the story," she said. 

The journalists who worked on the documentary, however, told ET that Leviev declined to share his side of the story, despite being asked. 

Earlier this week, Leviev also joined Cameo, a place where fans can request for personalised videos from personalities on the site – for a fee. He is charging US$300 for video messages for personal use and US$1,400 for business ones. 

The Times of Israel reported that Leviev was sentenced in Israel to 15 months in prison for fraud in 2019 but only served five months.