Entertainment
‘I was 100% under his spell’: Tinder Swindler’s ‘first victim’ reveals she was jailed in cockroach infested cell after working for Shimon Hayut
Courtney Simmonds-Miller claims she is the ‘first’ to be scammed by Simon Leviev (Picture: REX/Courtney Simmonds-Miller)
The Tinder Swindler’s ‘first victim’ has spoken out over how her business proposition from Simon Leviev resulted in her staying in a cockroach infested prison.
Cecilie Fjellhøy, Ayleen Koeleman, Pernilla Sjoholm starred in the Netflix documentary exposing conman Simon, real name Shimon Hayut, who scammed women he met on Tinder to fund his own billionaire lifestyle.
Courtney Simmonds-Miller, 31, claims to be the first to have been conned by Simon and detailed the scary moment she was strip searched and arrested by Cypriot police at 19-years-old, after she accepted his offer of being his personal assistant.
Courtney’s fancy role involved her hiring a BMW so he could live up to the rich boy façade while travelling to meetings, however Simon made sure Courtney put it all on her name.
But once the police caught up with them to sort out the paperwork, they found out the credit card was stolen in Israel and both Shimon and Courtney were arrested.
Courtney Simmonds-Miller was employed as Shimon’s personal assistant (Picture:Courtney Simmonds-Miller)
Unlike Courtney, Cecilie (left) was in a relationship with Shimon and was conned out of $250,000 (£184,325) (Picture: Netflix)
‘Initially I thought police were being racist because we weren’t Cypriot,’ she told the The Sun.
‘I spent three weeks in custody, despite it being a nonviolent crime.
‘The cell was disgusting, there were cockroaches everywhere. There were no doors on the showers or toilets and the loo itself was just a hole in the floor.’
According to Courtney, her, and Shimon Hayut were ‘best friends’ and she even acted as his wingman to help him attract other women.
‘He was very attentive, constantly complimenting me,’ she added.
‘I thought he was my soulmate in friend form and wanted to help me improve my life.
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‘He constantly told me he loved me and that I was his best friend… so much so I became withdrawn from my friends and family.’
Since the programme’s made its shocking yet eye-opening debut at the beginning of the month, several victims have come forward to share their harrowing experiences with the con man, and some have raised over £100,000 on their GoFundMe page.
In 2019, Shimon was jailed in Israel for travelling on a fake passport, but was released after five months on good behaviour.
However this hasn’t stopped him making a play for the Hollywood scene!
More: Netflix
Sources told TMZ that Shimon wants to write a book, host a dating podcast and has even pitched a controversial new TV show.
The Tinder Swindler is available to stream on Netflix
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