[imagesource: Hippopx]

I can’t hear the word ‘swindler’ without thinking of Simon Leviev – name Shimon Hayut – and the hit series, The Tinder Swindler.

Apparently, Leviev is still at it and a woman came forward last month to say that she had been taken for $130 000.

Get this – she watched the series but was convinced by Leviev that the allegations against him were lies. I hate to say my sympathies are limited but…

I have far greater sympathy for the Cape Town restaurateurs who claim they have been swindled out of millions by Luan Schultz,  who is alleged to have “racked up huge unpaid bills with suppliers and re-routed payments to his personal accounts”.

IOL reports:

The owners of Boujee and Ivy on Park restaurants, claim they entered into a business partnership with the man who brought nothing but headaches and unplanned expenses.

The two business owners said he racked up accommodation bills of up to R80 000 while orders of wine, fish, spices and pastas — that never arrived at the restaurants — came close to R5 million.

Boujee’s owner, Ladipo Akindele, said Schultz came on board as a project manager with a basic salary of R17 500.

Akindele alleges he took home a lot more than that, having made a change to the restaurant’s point-of-sale system that made him “the sole recipient for every sale that went through”.

I’m a little confused about how that would go unnoticed for four months, with Schultz eventually leaving in September and moving on to Ivy on Park, a restaurant that previously operated under the name Kind Regards:

Preehen Naidu, one of the owners of Schultz’s alleged second target, also said payments were also rerouted:

Naidu, who also owns the Ivy on Park guest house in Gardens, said Schultz – who had been staying at the establishment for two months with his boyfriend, David Prett and his father – abandoned the duo without paying their R80 000 bill.

Prett, who has been dating Schultz for 12 years, said he was unaware of how his partner was operating and claims to have also been duped.

SAPS and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) have confirmed that two cases of fraud have been opened. It’s believed there are four cases in total.

Schultz has yet to comment and has apparently been avoiding calls and messages.

[source:iol]