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French Montana ‘Can’t Believe’ He Once Met the ‘Tinder Swindler’ — and Has the Photo to Prove It!

French Montana posted a selfie of him and Simon Leviev, a.k.a. the Tinder Swindler, sharing his surprise that he’s rubbed elbows with the alleged fraudster

French Montana is in awe after realizing he’s met the so-called Tinder Swindler.

The “Pop That” rapper, 37, revealed via his Instagram Stories that he previously met Simon Leviev, a.k.a. the Tinder Swindler, the subject of Netflix’s true-crime documentary of the same name.

French Montana shared a snapshot posing with the serial fraudster aboard a private jet.

“I can’t believe I met the swindler [laughing Emoji],” French Montana wrote.

He reposted the same photo, this time changing the caption and seemingly mocking Leviev.

“Hey we just left the hospital. French Montana is fine again, we are fine again, but our enemies are after us. Please send 50k fast. Please.”

The Grammy-nominated rapper included several laughing Emojis.

french montana, tinder swindler
CREDIT: FRENCH MONTANA/INSTAGRAM

French Montana’s selfie with Leviev was posted after the Feb. 2 premiere of Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler, a two-hour documentary that chronicles the real-life events of Leviev, who is said to have conned an estimated $10 million out of women he attracted on the popular dating app, Tinder.

The swindler disguised himself under various aliases but is widely recognized as Leviev, who allegedly claimed he worked in a dangerous diamond business and was the son of billionaire Israeli diamond oligarch Lev Leviev.

Simon Leviev
CREDIT: TORE KRISTIANSEN/VG/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

The documentary recounts that the fraudster would attract women on Tinder by boasting about his affluent lifestyle working in the diamond industry. Once a long-distance relationship was established, he’d ask them for thousands of dollars so that he could escape the dangers of the business — all while he was “traveling for work” and living lavishly on his previous victims’ dime.

The scandal-based documentary is recounted through shocking, yet heartbreaking stories told by Cecilie Fjellhøy, Pernilla Sjöholm, and Ayleen Charlotte Koeleman — three of the many women who say they fell victim to the Tinder trickster.

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Leviev fled Isreal, his home country, in 2011 to avoid fraud-related offenses he committed in his early 20s. He ran off to Finland, where he was sentenced to two years in a Finnish prison in 2015 after being charged for defrauding three women, as reported by The Times of Israel.

After serving two years in a Finnish jail, he was released despite being a wanted man in a number of countries such as Israel, Sweden, England, Germany, Denmark, and Norway.

In 2019, he was caught by police in Greece using a fraudulent passport, and then he was deported back to Israel.

Although he denied all charges against him, telling Israel’s Channel 12 News, “I never presented myself as the son of anyone, but people use their imaginations,” he was then sentenced to 15 months in an Israeli prison on charges of theft, fraud, and forgery of documents –– all unrelated to his alleged scam. He was granted release after five months for “good behavior.”

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Now, in addition to living his luxurious lifestyle that’s filled with private jets, designer clothes, and expensive cars galore, he also has a website (though currently inactive) offering business advice, charging clients over $300. Meanwhile, he has not been charged in connection with the three women in the documentary, who are still paying off their debt as they were never repaid and have started a GoFundMe fundraiser, stating on the page, “All we want are our lives back.”

With 45.8 million hours viewed internationally for the week of Jan. 31 – Feb. 6, The Tinder Swindler is the streaming platform’s first documentary to top its film chart, released weekly, per Deadline.

Leviev refused to take part in the Netflix documentary and was active on Tinder until the site banned him.

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