CBC show “Inside Edition” has aired an exclusive interview with Simon Leviev, the man whom Netflix documentary “Tinder Swindler” alleges scammed several women out of millions of dollars.

The Netflix documentary film “Tinder Swindler” was released on February 2. Netflix alleges that “while “posing as a wealthy, jet-setting diamond mogul”, Leviev (born Shimon Hayut) “wooed women online then conned them out of millions of dollars.” The way he met his alleged victims online was using mobile dating app Tinder.

On Monday, Inside Edition aired part one of a two-part exclusive interview with Leviev and his current girlfriend Ukrainian-born Israeli model and social media influencer Kate Konlin.

source: Official Instagram Account of Kate Konlin

According to a report by Inside Edition published on Monday, Leviev told reporter Megan Alexander:

I’m not this monster that everybody has created… I was just a single guy that wanted to meet some girls on Tinder… I was surprised how many girls wanted me and how many girls offered to travel to meet me without them knowing me… I’m not this monster that everybody has created.

When asked about the allegations of the three women interviewed in the documentary, Leviev said:

They weren’t conned and they weren’t threatened.

And when asked if he had told these women that that he was the son of a billionaire diamond mogul, he replied:

No, I am not, and I never presented myself.

Leviev also mentioned that he does not feel bad for things he has not done to these women, and that instead he feels bad abut what happened to him. Leviev says that he wants to clear his name (apparently he is suing Netflix over his portrayal in Tinder Swindler).

As for how he pays for his current “lavish” lifestyle, Leviev told them:

I’m a legit businessman. I bought bitcoin in 2011, which [was then worth] nothing. I don’t need to say how much it’s worth now.

In part two of the interview, his gielfriend Kate Konlin says that she does not believe the allegations of the women interviewed by Netflix for Tinder Swindler:

People sometimes do crazy and stupid things, but they say ‘OK, now I am different’, and this [is] how I take Simon.

As for the evidence the women in the documentary claim to have, such as text messages, voice messages, and bank statements, Leviev says:

They basically took everything, manipulated, added things to make it in a narrative which is one-sided, basically just to destroy my name and to destroy everything.

Inside Edition pointed out that Leviev was “never charged regarding the three women in the documentary”. It also mentioned that the three women set up a GoFundMe account and so far they have recouped around $220,000 of their losses.

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