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How Ayleen Charlotte Got Revenge On “The Tinder Swindler”
Simon Hayut scammed her out of $140,000, but she got some of her money back.
From the producers of The Imposter and Don’t F**k with Cats, Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler details the unbelievable true story of the prolific con man Shimon Hayut, who posed as a wealthy diamond mogul named Simon Leviev to scam women out of tens of thousands of dollars. The true-crime documentary centres on the stories of three of Hayut’s victims, including Cecile Schrøder Fjellhøy and Pernilla Sjoholm, who set out to uncover his true identity and fight to bring him to justice. Appearing alongside Fjellhøy and Sjoholm in the Netflix docu is Ayleen Charlotte, who opens up about her experience with Hayut for the very first time. So where is Ayleen Charlotte now and what happened to her?
In the documentary, Charlotte reveals that she had been dating Simon Leviev (aka Shimon Hayut) for 14 months when an article that included an image of her then-boyfriend caught her eye. The article in question, titled The Tinder Swindler, had been published by the Norwegian publication VG, and outlined in great detail the stories of Fjellhøy and Sjoholm, who both explained how Hayut had scammed them out of thousands of dollars.
Upon realising that her relationship with Hayut aligned with Fjellhøy and Sjoholm’s stories, Charlotte revealed that it left her in shock. “He was very thoughtful ... I shared my whole heart with him,” she said. It quickly dawned on Charlotte that she, too, was a victim of Hayut’s deception, as she had transferred a total of $140,000 to him over the course of their relationship. As with his other victims, Hayut tricked Charlotte into handing over large sums of money by claiming he was on the run from serious physical threats being made against him.
After contacting the authorities, who weren’t able to offer any immediate assistance, Charlotte decided to seek her own revenge. First, she convinced Hayut that she was still on his side, despite the revelation of the VG article. Thanks to her experience of working in the luxury fashion industry, Charlotte talked Hayut into handing over his vast collection of designer clothes in order to sell them for a profit. However, she had zero intention of transferring the funds to Hayut — and kept all of the profits for herself.
Adding insult to injury, Charlotte also orchestrated the arrest of Hayut after sharing information with the police. He was later sentenced to 15 months in prison. However, Hayut was released after serving just five months. He still lives in Israel as a free man and has never been charged for defrauding Charlotte or his other victims.
As for today, it appears that Charlotte prefers to keep details of her life out of the public eye. However, as said in the documentary, she, along with Fjellhøy and Pernilla, are still paying off debts they accumulated while dating Hayut.
