A flashy wheel dealer who calls himself the “wolf of Airbnb” ran an illegal short-term rental scheme at a luxury Hudson Yards condominium, according to new court documents.
Konrad Bicher, 30 — who has been targeted for similar issues in about 20 other cases — was slapped by Manhattan’s new lawsuit for allegedly using a 450 W. 42nd St. rental unit to host illegal staycations through Airbnb and even offer the posh pad on an hourly basis for music videos and photo shoots.
Bicher’s ‘modus operandi’ is to enter into leases for residential apartments in Manhattan or, as here, to infiltrate the occupation and carry out some kind of ‘bust-out’ operation,” according to the lawsuit. of the Supreme Court on Monday asking for more than $1.5 million.
“This includes renting the apartment as a profit center through Airbnb, Peerspace and other similar platforms for short-term rentals, non-payment of rent, use of the pandemic and laws related thereto to delay any proceedings and leave the deportation point,” the filing alleges.
It is illegal in New York to rent an entire apartment for less than 30 days in such buildings.
Bicher has already been charged with similar claims in the other lawsuits, according to the real deal.
When asked why he was called the “Airbnb wolf,” Bicher replied in an POS text: “The Airbnb wolf: it means someone who is hungry and ruthless enough to ride at the top of the financial ladder. They compare ferocity to that of a wolf, as wolves are territorial, vicious, and show no mercy when provoked.
Bicher’s social media accounts have included photos of him enjoying private jets and exotic locations, the outlet said.
The latest lawsuit against Bicher was filed by building owner 42nd and 10th Associates LLC. It says Haley Frey signed a lease for Unit 43B beginning May 19, 2019, but a few months later, in August, she added Bicher as an occupant of the apartment and the couple began to turn them into illegal short-term rentals.
In fact, Frey hasn’t even been in the 42nd Street building since the July 2019 move-in date, according to the lawsuit.
Starting in November 2019, building doormen began noticing guests with suitcases and sometimes camera gear coming and going from the condo repeatedly — an occurrence that continued for the next two years, according to court documents.
On May 2, 2020, a guest didn’t know the name of the person who supposedly lived in the apartment and told the doorman he was staying there through Airbnb, according to the suit.
Less than two weeks later, someone going to the apartment claimed to be Frey – despite the janitor noticing she didn’t look like the photo that was in the supposed resident’s file, according to the lawsuit.
But the person walked to the elevator saying, “Konrad said everything was fine,” the document says.
Another time, on September 3, 2020, someone asked for the key to the unit and shortly after, 16 other people came with camera gear, according to the lawsuit.
Two more people visited in September, prompting the owner to discover that Bicher had a listing on Peerspace for a $97 hourly rental with a three-hour minimum – and that his 15 reviews included one by someone who used the pad for a movie shoot, the lawsuit says.
“There was an ever-changing cast of strangers with luggage coming in and out of the apartment for short-term stays,” the filing alleges. “The defendants would leave notices for building staff that these short-term passengers were their ‘guests’ and would leave cloned copies of the key fobs.”
The building informed Frey that only leaseholders could leave keys for guests, prompting the defendant in an Aug. 5, 2021, email to claim that Bicher was her husband, according to the suit.
When building management finally sent a cease-and-desist letter to Frey, she replied in a March 4, 2022 email: “Can we find a settlement? [sic] agree to pay me to leave? Otherwise, I will keep the unit for years and I will plead,” the lawsuit alleges.
The owners are suing Frey and Bicher for $1.5 million plus at least $10,000 in legal fees.
In other cases, Bicher reportedly claimed he couldn’t pay rent in the face of eviction proceedings, forcing him to be put on hold while he received $141 in pandemic relief funds. $875, according to the lawsuit.
It was unclear whether Bicher had an attorney for Monday’s trial. A lawyer who represented him in his other cases did not return a request for comment to the publication.
Valid phone numbers for Bicher and Frey could not be found.
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