The former Bnei Brak resident who posed as a son of billionaire Lev Leviev has finally been taken into custody. Shimon Hayut, who is suspected of cheating millions from women in Scandinavian countries, is now in custody, having been arrested on erev Shabbos following combined efforts by Israel Police and Interpol.

According to report, Hayut was arrested as a result of combined efforts by Israel Police and Interpol operating in Greece.

Hayut’s attorney, Jackie Kahan told the press, “He was arrested with an arrest warrant, which appears to be from Interpol. He is currently charged with entering the country with a forged passport”.

The young Hayut posed as a son of Leviev, evening changing his official name on his Israeli identity card to Simon Leviev, while living a lavish lifestyle at the expense of women he cheated and exploited. Leviev himself filed a complaint with the police against Hayut in the past, but according to the newspaper, he apparently continued his actions.

Back in 2011, he was already wanted by Israel Police for his fraudulent actions in a number of countries, and was brought to Israel to stand trial, but he succeeded in fleeing and his trail disappeared. He was imprisoned in Finland for some of his illegal activities.

According to an indictment that was filed against him in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court, Hayut began his illegal activities at the age of 20, when he stole checks from a family in Kiryat Ono, who hired him to babysit their four-year-old son, who Hayut left abandoned in a stairwell. When the child’s mother learned her son was in the police station, she filed a formal complaint against Hayut.

In another case, involving checks from a family in Herzliya, he used the stolen money to buy an expensive vehicle and take flying lessons in Haifa, where he defrauded yet another friend.

Hayut eventually fled Israel using a forged passport and returned to Israel after serving a prison term of three years for fraud against women in Finland. In 2017 an indictment was filed against him again, and he was released on the bail of a brother and a friend, and he disappeared again, fleeing abroad, where he expanded his fraudulent activities.

He was located by the VG newspaper with the assistance of journalist Uri Blau. They came to two of his victims, whom he defrauded out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)