A huge investigation conducted by the Norwegian newspaper VG revealed that a man named Shimon Hayut is suspected of cheating millions from women in the Scandinavian countries.

Hayut introduces himself as a son of billionaire businessman Lev Leviev, and even changed his name on his identity card to Simon Leviev. He has been leading a lavish life at the expense of women whom he cheated and exploited. Leviev himself filed a police complaint against Hayut, but according to the newspaper, he apparently continues his actions.

Already in 2011, he was wanted in Israel for fraud in several countries and was even brought to Israel to stand trial, but managed to escape from Israel and his trail disappeared. He also did jailtime in Finland for some of his actions.

The newspaper tried to locate him in Israel with the help of journalist Uri Blau and even reached his parents’ home in Bnei Brak. His mother said she had no contact with her son and that they were cut off from him.

The newspaper came to two women whom he had defrauded for long periods of time, showing them luxury cars, taking them on private planes, and a lavish lifestyle that included a bodyguard and a close secretary. He eventually defrauding them of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He would tell them that he needed a small loan because of threats, showing his shirt stained with blood, or because of the need to conceal his activity from his enemies.

He even gave them “collateral” in the form of forged documents of money deposits, or the provision of a fake watch as a guarantee, supposedly a luxury watch worth a lot of money.

According to the indictment filed against him at the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, Hayut began his fraud as a young man. According to the indictment, at the age of 20, he stole checks from a family in Kiryat Ono, as well as checks from other families in Herzliya. He used the money to buy a luxury car and flight lessons at the college in Haifa, where he also managed to deceive one of his classmates when he presented an investment that did not exist.

As stated, Hayut escaped the country using a forged passport and returned to Israel only after serving a three-year sentence for defrauding three women in Finland. In 2017 he was indicted again, but he was released on bail paid by his brother and his friend. Since then he has fled abroad, where he carried out his latest scams.

His exposure by the Norwegian newspaper came to pass when they reached out to two of the women he deceived. It goes without saying that the two lost all their money, and the huge loans they took for him. Hayut even threatened them when confronted that “they will bear the consequences for the rest of their lives.”

The Tel Aviv police fraud squad confirmed that Hayut was wanted for questioning, but said his trail had disappeared. The lawyer who represented him at the start of his trial, Yaki Kahan, also said he had lost contact with him in recent months.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)