Alleged 'Tinder Swindler' Simon Leviev Denies He's a Conman

Simon Leviev, subject of Netflix's massively successful documentary The Tinder Swindler, proclaimed his innocence in a new interview with Inside Edition.

The Tinder Swindler alleges that Leviev posed as the son of an Israeli billionaire and misled women, including three featured in the film, into giving him nearly $500,000 combined to fund his lavish lifestyle. While Leviev admitted to Inside Edition that he is not the son of a billionaire diamond mogul — "I never presented myself [as such]," he said — he denied any wrongdoing. "I feel bad for something that I didn't done? No. I feel bad for what has happened to myself," said Leviev, who also goes by the name David Sharon. "I want to clear my name. I want to say to the world, 'This isn't true.'"

Leviev went on to insist that he's "a legit businessman" and not a fraudster, as the Netflix documentary suggested (the three women profiled in The Tinder Swindler claim that they are still in debt due to the money they lent Leviev). "I bought Bitcoin in 2011, [when] it was nothing," he said. "I don't need to say how much it's worth now."

While Leviev has not been charged with any crimes related to the women featured in the documentary, but in 2015, he was arrested by authorities in Finland and served two years in prison for defrauding three other women.

"I am not a fraud. I am not a fake," he concluded. "People don't know me, so they can't judge me."

The Tinder Swindler is now streaming on Netflix.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.