‘Wolf of Airbnb’ Konrad Bicher pleads guilty in illegal NYC sublet schemeBy Kyle Schnitzer and Priscilla DeGregory
June 26, 2023
The self-proclaimed “Wolf of Airbnb” accused of illegally subletting more than a dozen Manhattan apartments and operating them as “mini hotels” — all while skipping out on rent — pleaded guilty to federal charges Monday over the scheme.
Florida resident Konrad Bicher, 31 — an expectant father — will face up to 20 years behind bars at his sentencing on one count of wire fraud.
Bicher will also face a $150,000 fine and has agreed to pay $1.7 million in forfeitures and another $1.98 million back to his victims.
Starting in February 2019, Bicher and his associates leased at least 18 Big Apple properties and then put them up as short-term rentals — breaking New York City laws and violating contracts, prosecutors said.
The group ran them like “mini hotels,” listing them on platforms including Airbnb, the feds said.
It’s illegal in the city to offer comparable units for rent for less than 30 days.
“Bicher proudly referred to himself as the ‘Wolf of Airbnb,'” Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement. “But, as he admitted in court today, his businesses were premised on fraud.”
And while he was cashing in on the units — including making as much as $97 an hour in film crew rentals — Bicher cried poverty during the pandemic, prosecutors alleged.
* * *
Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/06/26/wolf-of-airbnb-pleads-guilty-in-illegal-nyc-sublet-scheme/
