Simon Leviev, the Israeli national widely known as the "Tinder Swindler," was detained by Georgian authorities after arriving at Batumi International Airport on Sunday, officials and his attorney said, after being stopped on an Interpol Red Notice. Georgian Interior Ministry officials said Leviev was picked up once he crossed into the country, but they and his lawyer provided few details on the precise reason for the detention.
"I spoke with him this morning after he was detained, but we don’t yet understand the reason. He has been traveling freely around the world," Leviev’s attorney told Israeli media. It was not immediately clear whether Georgian authorities planned to hold Leviev pending extradition, to present formal charges, or to transfer him to another jurisdiction.
Leviev, whose birth name is Shimon Yehuda Hayut, came to international attention following a 2022 Netflix documentary that detailed allegations he posed as the son of a Russian diamond tycoon and used the persona to defraud women he met on dating apps. The documentary and subsequent reporting said he cultivated an image of wealth — private jets, luxury hotels and expensive jewelry — and convinced victims to provide him with large sums of money by claiming he was in danger or needed emergency funds. Journalistic accounts of the case have said he allegedly swindled roughly $10 million from about a dozen women across multiple countries.
Leviev has a history of cross-border criminal cases. He fled Israel in 2011 before he could be sentenced on convictions that included fraud, theft and forgery. He served about two years in a Finnish prison from 2015 to 2017 after being convicted of defrauding women there. Finnish authorities later returned him to Israel in 2017. He fled again using a false passport and was apprehended by Interpol in Greece in 2019.
In 2019, Greek authorities detained him on charges tied to his use of forged documents; he was later extradited to Israel and sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud related to earlier cases. Authorities in Israel released him early in May 2020 after he served about five months of that sentence, citing concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the Netflix documentary's release, Leviev was publicly banned from several dating platforms.
Georgian officials have not publicly disclosed the nature of any new charges, and Interpol typically issues Red Notices at the request of a member country seeking the location and arrest of persons wanted for prosecution or to serve a sentence. An Interpol Red Notice does not itself constitute an arrest warrant; it signals that one country has requested international cooperation in locating a wanted person.
News of Leviev's detention revived attention to the long-running international investigations and prosecutions tied to his alleged schemes. Women featured in the documentary and in earlier reporting said they were financially and emotionally harmed by the scams, prompting civil suits and public campaigns to warn others.
Representatives for Interpol and Georgia's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for additional comment beyond the initial ministry statement that Leviev had been picked up on a Red Notice. Leviev's attorney said he had been able to speak with his client after the arrest but that they were still seeking clarity from Georgian authorities on the legal basis for the detention.
Legal experts said the next steps in such cases typically include formal charging by the detaining country or presentation of extradition paperwork if another country seeks custody. Until authorities in Georgia or a requesting country disclose additional information, the reason for Leviev's latest detention will remain unclear.
The arrest underscores the transnational nature of fraud cases in recent years and the use of international law enforcement mechanisms to account for suspects who travel across borders. Leviev's movements and prior prosecutions have involved multiple countries and law enforcement agencies, illustrating the complexities of pursuing financial crime and fraud allegations that cross jurisdictions.
