They sued the “Airbnb Wolf” for USD 1.5 million for subletting apartments in a luxury tower in Manhattan

A young social media businessman who calls himself “The Wolf of Airbnb” is being sued for $1.5 million for allegedly renting luxury Manhattan properties for short stays and thereby making a fortune while skipping hundreds and thousands of dollars in rent.

His name is Konrad Bicher, he is 30 years old and he is being accused, among other things, of using a luxury apartment in the MiMa building, at 450 West 42nd Street, to host Airbnb short stays, which can even be for hours, to shoot music videos, photo shoots and more.

The apartments in the building sell between 1.5 and 6.5 million dollars, and rent costs between $4,000 and 10,000 dollars per month, according to the latest property searches. But according to the lawsuit, Bicher rents the apartments for up to $97 an hour.

Bicher is also accused in separate lawsuits of owing more than $450,000 in rent, since February 2020, for apartments he rented in Harlem and Hell's Kitchen, according to The Real Deal. And in addition, he has been accused of alleging rent difficulties due to covid, using New York's eviction ban to avoid paying.

The “Wolf of Airbnb”, as he proclaims himself in his instagram profile, often uploads photos on luxury holidays and traveling on private planes, and constantly claims to be at the top of the financial ladder.

About the lawsuit he has said that he does not have illegal short-term rentals, something that he will have to prove to justice.

In a text message to The Real Deal, he gave himself the dubious nickname and said: “The Wolf of Airbnb: it means someone who is hungry and ruthless enough to rise to the top of the financial ladder. They compare ferocity to that of a wolf, because wolves are territorial, fierce and show no mercy when provoked.”

Since then, it appears that Bicher has deactivated her social media accounts.

The “Wolf of Airbnb” is a nod to the nickname “Wolf of Wall Street” with which Jordan Belfort is known, a stockbroker and financial guru who orchestrated a scheme of scam, value system manipulation and money laundering, which was immortalized in an autobiographical book and an acclaimed Martin Scorsese film of the same name.

New York City law makes it illegal to rent an entire apartment for less than 30 days without the usual landlord or tenant being present. Since 2016 there has also been a ban on advertising this type of rental considered illegal.

But according to a Supreme Court filing, Bicher's “modus operandi is to enter into residential apartment leases in Manhattan or, like here, break through to occupation and execute a kind of 'disruption' operation”

The lawsuit, filed Monday, added: “That includes renting the apartment through Airbnb, Peerspace and other similar platforms for short-term rentals, failing to pay rent, using the pandemic and related laws to delay any procedure and vacate at the time of eviction.”

Bicher has faced several lawsuits in the past, and at least two were dismissed after the owners involved were unable to locate him to give him court documents.

The latest lawsuit, filed by 42nd and 10th Associates LLC, states that a woman named Haley Frey signed a lease on unit 43B effective May 19, 2019, before adding Bicher, in August, as an occupant.

It was then, according to the documents, that the couple began making illegal short-term rentals outside the house, with Frey accused of not visiting the building since the July 2019 move-in date, reports the New York Post.

Alarm bells began to ring in November 2019 when doormen began to notice that guests were frequently arriving with suitcases and camera equipment.

The strange comings and goings continued for another two years, the lawsuit claims.

The documents state that a guest admitted to the doormen on May 2, 2020 that they were staying at the property through an Airbnb reservation.

Less than a fortnight later, a person on his way to the apartment claimed to be Frey, despite not looking anything like his photo on file, the lawsuit claims.

In another alleged incident on September 3, 2020, someone asked for the key to the unit, before being followed by an entourage of 16 people carrying camera equipment.

When two more people visited him that month, the owner searched the online property portals and found that the apartment was included in Peerspace.

Supposedly, the house was available at a rate of $97 per hour, with a minimum of three hours.

According to the lawsuit, the property had 15 reviews, including from one person who had used it for filming.

“There was an ever-changing cast of strangers with luggage coming in and out of the apartment for short stays,” the file alleges.

“The defendants left notices to building personnel that these short-term bystanders were their 'guests' and left cloned copies of key rings,” he adds.

When the building warned Frey that only tenants could make arrangements to leave the keys to guests, it allegedly claimed in an email dated August 5, 2021 that Bicher was her husband.

A cease and desist letter was sent to Frey, to which he allegedly responded on March 4 of this year: 'Can we reach an agreement [sic] to pay me to leave? Otherwise, I will maintain unity for years and litigate.”

Landlords seek $1.5 million in damages from Frey and Bicher, plus at least $10,000 in legal fees.

In previous similar cases, Bicher allegedly claimed that she could not pay rent when facing eviction proceedings, forcing her to be suspended while allegedly being granted pandemic relief funds in the amount of $141,875.

KEEP READING