A man is sentenced to over four years in prison for fraud after deceiving his landlords in New York when he rented out several apartments during the pandemic.
The now convicted Konrad Bicher has called himself "The wolf of Airbnb" in reference to the notorious Wall Street broker Jordan Belfort.
During the pandemic, he rented out at least 18 apartments as "mini-hotels". At the same time, he used the pandemic as an excuse not to pay over a million dollars in rent to his landlords between 2019 and April 2022.
When the pandemic struck, he also received government-guaranteed loans intended to facilitate small business owners.
He is sentenced to pay $2.2 million in damages. Additionally, $1.7 million that he earned is being forfeited.
