Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut has been dramatically released from prison in Georgia after a plea deal was reached, the Daily Mail can reveal.
The sweetheart scammer has walked free after receiving just a one-year suspended sentence with all proceedings dropped and arrest warrants cancelled.
He had been held in Kutaisi Penitentiary Establishment No 2 for two months after being arrested under an Interpol red notice for alleged fraud committed in Germany.
It related to charges of defrauding a Berlin-based woman who claimed to have been the victim of a £38,000 scam.
Hayut, 35, faced up to 10 years in prison if extradited and convicted but Georgian prosecutors told the Daily Mail that Berlin has withdrawn the request, allowing him to walk free.
The Russian-Israeli made famous by 2022 Netlfix documentary The Tinder Swindler was seen strolling out of prison this afternoon in Kutaisi.
Tinder Swindler Shimon Hayut seen walking out of Kutaisi Penitentiary Establishment No 2 after his dramatic release
Hayut has long been wanted for a string of alleged fraud and theft cases totalling an estimated £7million
Israeli lawyer Sharon Nahari and local Georgian solicitor Mariam Kublashvili who secured Hayut’s freedom
He was represented by Israeli lawyer Sharon Nahari and local Georgian solicitor Mariam Kublashvili – both renowned for winning tough cases – who said they found ‘significant legal weaknesses’ in the charges.
Under the plea agreement with German authorities, Hayut ‘received a one-year suspended sentence, and all other proceedings against him were closed’ they said.
‘This is an important decision,’ a joint statement read. ‘The plea agreement is fair and appropriate, and we welcome our client’s release and the cancellation of all arrest warrants.
‘In its ruling, the court explicitly determined that both the local arrest warrant and the European warrant are cancelled, and that all cases against him are closed.
‘This outcome constitutes a significant achievement for Adv. Sharon Nahari and Adv. Mariam Kobashvili, as well as for the defence teams established in Germany and Georgia.’
Hayut has long been wanted for a string of alleged fraud and theft cases totalling an estimated £7million, with multiple aliases flagged with authorities as detailed in the 2022 Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler.
But following his release he still has no convictions over the alleged crimes documented in the show.
Hayut arrested in Athens in 2019 after being caught travelling on a forged passport
He was last detained in Greece in 2019 for using a fake passport and extradited to Israel where he served just five months of a 15-month sentence for a 2011 theft, fraud and forgery conviction.
When he was arrested after landing at Batumi Airport on the Black Sea coast on September 14 this year, his accusers thought he may finally face justice.
But today’s outcome will come as a hammer blow for the women who claim he swindled them out of millions.
Pernilla Sjoholm, 38, a Swedish businesswoman who claimed on the programme she was swindled out of £39,000 told The Mail on Sunday after his detainment: ‘Finally. I am the biggest fan of the German police force right now.’
But now it appears Hayut is free to travel Europe.
Victims said he would pose on dating app Tinder as diamond mogul Simon Leviev, the son of Israeli-Russian billionaire Lev Leviev, a man Forbes once called the ‘King of Diamonds’.
He would dazzle victims with private jet trips to five-star hotels and woo them with designer clothes – before tricking them into handing over vast amounts of money.
Women told of being left with suicidal feelings and crippling bank debts as they faced the humiliation of discovering the relationship had been a scam.
Hayut’s lawyers had questioned why an Interpol notice was triggered when he entered Georgia without the Germans first going to authorities in his homeland.
Ex-model Ms Kublashvili, who appeared on Georgia’s version of Strictly Come Dancing, fought to prevent speedboat killer Jack Shepherd’s extradition in 2019 after he was held in Georgia over the death of Charlotte Brown, 24, on the Thames.
He was extradited three months later after Shepherd agreed provided his safety was taken into account.