Netflix's fascinating foray into the manipulative minds and criminal dealings of con artist Simon Leviev in the documentary The Tinder Swindler, and the miniseries Inventing Anna about fake heiress Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey), have proved to be huge hits.
While audiences gasp from the comfort of their sofas at the audaciousness of the pair's crimes, which left trails of broken hearts, destroyed trust and mountains of debt in their chaotic wake, the criminals themselves are not only revelling in their newfound fame, but also profiting from it.
New docuseries for Sorokin from ‘KUWTK’ team
Sorokin, 31, is the subject of Netflix's limited series Inventing Anna, itself based on the New York magazine article about the fake heiress. However, she is now set to star in her own docuseries.
Bunim/Murray Productions, the company behind reality TV shows Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Project Runway, as well as the acclaimed documentary Surviving R Kelly, is in talks with the Russian-German con artist to star in her own show, purportedly about her post-prison life.
Having been released from jail in 2021 after serving three years, Sorokin is currently being detained by US immigration for matters pertaining to having overstayed her visa.
“Anna’s story is very much alive and still unfolding as we speak,” said Michael Driscoll, Bunim/Murray’s director of development. “We’ve been developing this project with her for months now — and spent countless hours on phone and video calls with her. She is a complicated and fascinating character, and we are looking forward to telling the next chapter of her ever-evolving tale.”
How the fake heiress profited off her crimes
According to Insider, Sorokin was paid $320,000 by Netflix for the rights to adapt her story into Inventing Anna.
Sorokin’s assets had previously been frozen in May 2019, two years after her arrest, owing to the US “Son of Sam” law which prohibits criminals from profiting from their crimes.
Of the $320,000, Sorokin paid $199,000 in court-ordered restitution to her victims, $75,000 in lawyers' fees and $24,000 in state fines. Her remaining funds were unfrozen for her to keep for herself.
'The Tinder Swindler': book, dating show and podcast plans
For Leviev, 31, his brush with notoriety in The Tinder Swindler was not enough. In the documentary, he claimed to be the son of billionaire diamond dealer Lev Leviev, and manipulated numerous women over the years into handing over money to fund his jet-set lifestyle.
In 2015, Leviev served two years of a three-year sentence in a Finnish prison for fraud. Upon his release in 2017, he returned to Israel where he was sentenced to 15 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $43,289 for previous crimes relating to fraud. He served only five months and was released early for good behaviour.
Estimated to have conned people out of more than $10 million, three of Leviev's victims, Cecilie Fjellhoy, Pernilla Sjoholm and Ayleen Charlotte, who shared their stories in the Netflix documentary, are still paying back bank loans and credit card debt they accrued on his behalf.
Sjoholm recently told GQ that she is bankrupt and back living with her mother. Setting up a GoFundMe account accepting donations they will put towards their debts, the trio wrote: "All we want are our lives back."
However, for Leviev, Hollywood, rather than atonement, beckons.
Talent manager Gina Rodriguez at entertainment company Gitoni Inc, which has the likes of Blac Chyna, Amber Rose and Tori Spelling among their clients, has signed on Leviev. The pair have revealed plans to capitalise on his infamy with ideas for a book, a dating show in which women compete for his love, as well as a dating podcast.
"I was intrigued with the Netflix story. I saw the world’s greatest salesman," Rodriguez told Entertainment Tonight. "It left me with a lot of unanswered questions and was very biased. I believe there are two sides to every story and everyone should have the chance to tell their side of the story."
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Match info
Liverpool 3
Hoedt (10' og), Matip (21'), Salah (45 3')
Southampton 0
The Freedom Artist
By Ben Okri (Head of Zeus)
The biog
Favourite food: Fish and seafood
Favourite hobby: Socialising with friends
Favourite quote: You only get out what you put in!
Favourite country to visit: Italy
Favourite film: Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
Family: We all have one!
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
%20Ramez%20Gab%20Min%20El%20Akher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ramez%20Galal%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStreaming%20on%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMBC%20Shahid%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Mykonos, with a flight change to its partner airline Olympic Air in Athens. Return flights cost from Dh4,105 per person, including taxes.
Where to stay
The modern-art-filled Ambassador hotel (myconianambassador.gr) is 15 minutes outside Mykonos Town on a hillside 500 metres from the Platis Gialos Beach, with a bus into town every 30 minutes (a taxi costs €15 [Dh66]). The Nammos and Scorpios beach clubs are a 10- to 20-minute walk (or water-taxi ride) away. All 70 rooms have a large balcony, many with a Jacuzzi, and of the 15 suites, five have a plunge pool. There’s also a private eight-bedroom villa. Double rooms cost from €240 (Dh1,063) including breakfast, out of season, and from €595 (Dh2,636) in July/August.
THE LOWDOWN
Photograph
Rating: 4/5
Produced by: Poetic License Motion Pictures; RSVP Movies
Director: Ritesh Batra
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Sanya Malhotra, Farrukh Jaffar, Deepak Chauhan, Vijay Raaz
Results:
2.15pm: Handicap (PA) Dh60,000 1,200m.
Winner: AZ Dhabyan, Adam McLean (jockey), Saleha Al Ghurair (trainer).
2.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 1,200m.
Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
3.15pm: Conditions (PA) Dh60,000 2,000m.
Winner: Hareer Al Reef, Gerald Avranche, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
3.45pm: Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 1,700m.
Winner: Kenz Al Reef, Gerald Avranche, Abdallah Al Hammadi.
4.15pm: Sheikh Ahmed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Cup (TB) Dh 200,000 1,700m.
Winner: Mystique Moon, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
4.45pm: The Crown Prince Of Sharjah Cup Prestige (PA) Dh200,000 1,200m.
Winner: ES Ajeeb, Sam Hitchcott, Ibrahim Aseel.
Key products and UAE prices
iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229
iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649
iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179
Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.
Sui Dhaaga: Made in India
Director: Sharat Katariya
Starring: Varun Dhawan, Anushka Sharma, Raghubir Yadav
3.5/5
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Step by step
2070km to run
38 days
273,600 calories consumed
28kg of fruit
40kg of vegetables
45 pairs of running shoes
1 yoga matt
1 oxygen chamber
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Gentlemen
Director: Guy Ritchie
Stars: Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant
Three out of five stars
'Of Love & War'
Lynsey Addario, Penguin Press
