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CHILLING voice messages sent by Andrew Tate to a terrified victim who’s accused him of raping her have been revealed.
The 36-year-old misogynist influencer is currently in prison in Romania after being accused of human trafficking, rape and organise…
THE Tinder Swindler’s former girlfriend has broken her silence and revealed why she stood by the conman.
Model Kate Konlin, 24, said she felt she had no choice but to publicly defend Simon Leviev when the Netflix doc aired as she was under his emotional control.
Kate Konlin has spoken out about her relationship with Simon Leviev[/caption]
Kate started dating Leviev in 2020 after he messaged her on Instagram[/caption]
Leviev – real name is Shimon Heyada Hayut – was arrested in 2019 and jailed for 15 months for conning women out of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The convicted con artist was the subject of Netflix’s The Tinder Swindler – which clocked up 50million views in just one week and became Netflix’s most-watched documentary.
The programme alleged Leviev had conned women he met on the dating app out of about $10million. He denies the allegations.
When the show was released, Kate defended Leviev, insisting he was a successful property dealer and claiming the doc was a web of lies.
She claimed he had never asked to borrow her money and questioned “how someone can build such a fake story”.
But the model, who once appeared on the cover of Vogue in Japan, has now spoken out about the abuse she faced during the 18-month relationship.
Speaking to the BBC one year after the documentary aired, she said she felt she had no choice but to publicly support Leviev.
Ukraine-born Kate started dating Leviev in 2020 after he sent her a message on Instagram.
She described the initial stages of their whirlwind romance as “a love bomb” and said he was “obsessed” with her.
But Kate said the couple soon started arguing and Leviev would criticise her appearance, clothes, her weight and her skin.
She said she felt like she was “walking on eggshells” – and nobody knew the truth of the abusive relationship at the time.
After a few months, Kate said Leviev started asking to borrow thousands of dollars at a time – racking up a total of $150,000.
In one voice note heard by the BBC, Leviev explained why he couldn’t pay back the loans.
He reportedly fumed: “Kate, I’m a millionaire! And that’s a fact. At the moment, I’m stuck. Understand? I’m stuck!
“Do you understand that in your screwed-up brain? That bird brain of yours. I’m stuck, Kate. I didn’t steal from you.
“You gave it to me of your own free will. You lent it to me. I’m stuck, that’s all.”
Kate said her ex has branded every woman who has spoken out against him a “liar”.
When the documentary aired, Kate said she “knew it was all true” as she watched it next to him on the sofa.
But she said it was easy for Leviev to persuade her to defend him publicly.
“People told me they wished that I would get cancer or be run over by a car and that I deserved the worst of everything because I was in a relationship with him,” Kate said.
Kate said she eventually decided to leave Leviev in March last year – shortly after the documentary was released.
But she said Leviev started an argument as she tried to leave and it turned physical.
Leviev pushed her and she cut her foot on a step, she claimed.
After going to hospital, she filed a police complaint against Leviev.
When approached by the BBC, Leviev said he has never physically harmed any woman, and claimed Kate was a “liar”.
After nearly a year since the release of The Tinder Swindler, Kate said she wants to spread awareness of what an unhappy and controlling relationship can look like.
“If a woman who is in the same situation sees what I experienced and how I got out, and that today I am stronger and more beautiful than when I was with him, she will hopefully see that she can also leave,” she told the BBC.
The Tinder Swindler doc saw three of Leviev’s victims bravely share their stories for the almost two-hour film after they were unfortunate enough to swipe right on him via Tinder.
He then allegedly conned them out of hundreds of thousands of pounds, according to the documentary.
He reportedly claimed to be the “prince of diamonds” and a billionaire heir to the fortune of an Israeli magnate.
Leviev allegedly convinced his dates to fork out for everything from flights to making international bank transfers and always promised to pay them back.
But if they were given something in return, it was reportedly dodgy cheques which would bounce, or fake designer watches worth almost nothing.
He was finally caught out and thrown behind bars for 15 months in 2019.
However, following good behaviour, he was freed after just five months.
Since The Tinder Swindler aired, victims have continued to come forward claiming Leviev stole thousands from them.
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Simon Leviev tricked women into thinking he was a billionaire heir to the fortune of an Israeli magnate[/caption]
He was jailed for 15 months but released after five for ‘good behaviour’[/caption]
A BRIT fighting behind enemy lines in Ukraine says he pumped a Russian soldier full of lead at close range.
Civilian James Dee said only seconds earlier, the enemy had killed his medic pal Craig Mackintosh, 48, in a surprise attack.
Recalling the deadly encounter in the eastern city of Kharkiv, James told the BBC the Russian was only “10 metres away” when he opened fire.
The volunteer fighter, who had no previous military experience, revealed: “One of my friends was digging a trench and I was sitting on the edge.
“You know when you get that feeling someone’s behind you, I looked behind me, surely enough, there was someone there.
“He was only 10m away from me, looking all confused.”
James said he saw the attackers “face change” before he made eye contact “with me”.
The Brit screamed “put your gun down” but in a flash the enemy dropped to the floor, opened fire and a frantic firefight exploded.
James unloaded six shots into the attacker, killing him, but it was too late.
Craig, a landscape gardener from Thetford, in Norfolk, who had joined volunteers in August, was dead.
It is believed he was hit in the neck.
Recalling the aftermath, James said: “I looked down and I’ll be honest, I cried. Not because I was scared.
“But seeing it up close and personal, you’re talking with someone, having a laugh and life’s just gone within the click of the fingers.”
I didn’t find out until the day before he was going… I was gutted
Adrian Macrow, Craig’s brother
Craig had two daughters and two step-daughters and had served in the Territorial Army between the ages of 16 to 23 when he had the ambition of becoming a full time soldier.
But an inoperable cyst near his brain meant he failed a medical examination to join the British Army.
After an accident involving a chainsaw left him in constant pain, he decided to volunteer to join the Ukrainian war effort as a medic, leaving the UK on March 24.
He returned briefly in April for a spell of leave before starting a second tour with a volunteer squad in August.
He died on August 25.
James’s brutal account was revealed in the documentary ‘Brits in Battle: Ukraine’, availiable on BBC iPlayer.
The show features Craig’s broken family, including brother Adrian Macrow who was “crushed” by Craig’s death.
He said: “I didn’t find out until the day before he was going… I was gutted.
“Even on the way to the airport just anything to get him home, but he had his heart set on it.”
Daughter Kiya Mackintosh said her dad’s August 25 death “didn’t feel real” but she praised him as “courageous” for his actions.
Country’s finance ministry claims broadcaster has not fully declared its income and profitsIndia’s finance ministry has accused the BBC of tax evasion, saying that it had not fully declared its income and profits from its operations in the country.Indi…
Officials from India’s Income Tax Department searched the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai, weeks after it broadcast a documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi.