‘Tinder Swindler’ sufferer who misplaced £39,000 shares response after ‘sudden’ jail launch
Pernilla Sjoholm claims she was duped by the infamous ‘Tindler Swindler’ Shimon Hayut and lost out on £39,000. She’s now shared her thoughts on his ‘shock’ release from Georgian prison
A woman who claims to have been duped by the infamous ‘Tindler Swindler’ revealed her reaction to his ‘unexpected’ release from a Georgian prison.
Pernilla Sjoholm, a Swedish business woman, alleges that she lost out on £39,000 after being conned by Shimon Hayut. The man at the centre of the infamous 2022 Netflix documentary ‘The Tinder Swindler’ was accused of scamming women across Europe out of millions – while posing as ‘Simon Leviev’ – an apparent heir to a rich diamond family. Initially, he faced up to a decade in jail.
Initially, the infamous fraudster faced up to 10 years behind bars. Hayut was arrested in Georgia over an alleged £38,000 fraud in Germany. While waiting for extradition, he was held in the country’s notorious Kutaisi Penitentiary.
However, reports suggest that German officials cancelled their arrest warrant, which led to the possibility of a “fair and appropriate” plea deal, as described by his Georgian lawyer Mariam Kublashvila.
Scorned Pernilla Sjoholm told The Mail on Sunday that it was all a “bit of a shock” because she wasn’t told her case “was not part of the German case.”
She said: “I’m disappointed that he’s not going to spend more years in prison – but he has done two months, and it’s a plea deal, so he is convicted and that means he has admitted to his crimes.”
She doesn’t agree with suggestions that the case collapsed due to weak evidence, and added: “That is not really the case. He had a plea deal, so I still see it as a win.”
Apparently, Hayut boasted from prison that he was “unstoppable” and would “change nothing.” It is believed that Hayut still faces legal issues in Israel, including a lawsuit fronted by the Leviev family. They accuse him of falsely claiming to being related to the family.
His lawyers Sharon Nahari and Mariam Kublashvili said in a joint statement: “This is an important decision. The plea agreement is fair and appropriate, and we welcome our client’s release and the cancellation of all arrest warrants.”
Previously, the Daily Star reported on how Hayut was able to dupe his victims and how he managed to fund his supposedly luxurious lifestyle. He managed to charm women into taking out huge credit card loans to finance his luxury lifestyle.
The conman would shower his victims with lavish gifts, using money he had taken from other victims. He would then ask for more funds, claiming he needed to protect his identity due to the danger of the diamond industry.
One of his victims was Norwegian Cecilie Fjellhoy – who thought she was in a relationship with with Hayut. They would speak daily and he would call her his ‘future wife’.
The Israeli conman defrauded the then-29-year-old graduate student out of almost two million Norwegian kroner (£168,000) in 2018.
A few months into their relationship he convinced Cecilie he couldn’t leave any “digital footprints” due to ongoing threats, and asked her to take out a credit card in her name.
Simon ended up maxing out several credit cards which were registered in Cecilie’s name. She then had to take out huge loans to pay off the debt.
Cecilie gave Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang (VG) access to all of the bank statements from the credit cards. The transactions showed that Hayut was using the money to finance a luxury life, taking him all over the world.
In just 54 days, Hayut spent almost £168,000 and in just one month (from March 2 to 25) he had spent almost £78,000.
He also spent an eye-watering £2,000 in Christian Louboutin, and the same amount of money in Gucci. Hayut spent almost £8,400 on one single weekend in Stockholm, Sweden (March 30 to April 1) on things like flights, hotels, restaurants and luxury shops.
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