A fraudster who dubbed himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” was sentenced Monday to four years and three months in prison for scamming New York City landlords.
Konrad Bicher, 32, previously admitted to exploiting COVID-era New York City laws to avoid paying rent on numerous apartments while subleasing them through Airbnb. U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield handed him a four-year sentence in Manhattan federal court.
“As today’s sentence underscores, those who partake in such callous and fraudulent conduct will answer for their crimes, no matter their self-given title,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Beginning in 2019 and continuing into 2022, Bicher rented at least 18 properties in Manhattan. When the pandemic hit, Bicher used New York’s tenant-protection laws to avoid paying rent on the various apartments, claiming he was in financial distress and couldn’t afford it.
However, Bicher was actually raking in cash by renting the apartments through Airbnb, according to the feds. He also violated numerous leases, which prohibited such deals.
To push his scheme further, Bicher applied for small business loans under the Paycheck Protection Program and eventually received three loans totaling $565,000, investigators said. Bicher was one of many people who stole from the government by exploiting the emergency COVID funding.
“The Wolf of Airbnb: It means someone who is hungry and ruthless enough to get on top of the financial ladder,” Bicher told one person in a text message.
In total, Bicher and his associates dodged $1 million worth of rent payments while making $1.17 million through Airbnb, according to federal investigators. While he was claiming a desperate need for small business loans in New York, Bicher was actually living in Florida and traveling for fun.
As part of his sentence, Bicher was ordered to pay $1.74 million in restitution and fined $2.23 million.
Bicher took his self-proclaimed titled from infamous stockbroker Jordan Belfort’s memoir, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” and the 2013 Martin Scorsese film based on it.
With News Wire Services
