New York
Self-professed ‘Wolf of Airbnb’ pleads guilty to wire fraud
NEW YORK (AP) — A Florida man who dubbed himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge Monday, admitting gaining about $2 million illegally by defrauding landlords and cheating a government pandemic program.
Konrad Bicher, 31, of Hialeah, Florida, entered the plea in Manhattan federal court, agreeing not to appeal any prison sentence that is roughly four to five years long. The wire fraud charge otherwise carried a potential 20-year prison sentence.
Bicher also agreed to forfeit $1.7 million and make restitution of $1.9 million. A sentencing date was not immediately set.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Bicher proudly referred to himself as the “Wolf of Airbnb” but admitted that his businesses were premised on fraud after he entered lease agreements based on false pretenses and made false statements to obtain U.S.-guaranteed loans.
“Bicher lined his own pockets by abusing government programs and tenant protections intended to benefit those in crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Williams said.
When Bicher was indicted in October, Williams said Bicher operated at least 18 apartments in Manhattan “as mini-hotels” while using the pandemic as an excuse not to pay landlords.
In a news release, prosecutors noted that Bicher told media outlets that he called himself the “Wolf of Airbnb” because he was “hungry and ruthless enough to get on top of the financial ladder” and had the ferocity ... of a wolf, because wolves are territorial, vicious and show no mercy when provoked.”
The “Wolf of Airbnb” seemed to be a play on “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the title of a memoir by former stockbroker Jordan Belfort, who made a fortune on penny stocks before blowing much of it on a wild and lavish lifestyle and going to prison for financial crimes.
Prosecutors said in court papers that Bicher began his fraud by February 2019, renting apartments in Manhattan before subletting the units to third parties on a short-term basis even though clauses in his lease agreements said he could not do so.
Prosecutors said he failed to make rent payments required by the lease agreements and refused to leave the apartments after the leases expired.
They said that he and his associates failed to make more than $1 million in lease payments from July 2019 to April 2022 and earned at least $1.17 million in rental income through his own short-term rentals.
From April 2021 to July 2021, he used fraudulent information to obtain over a half million dollars in government-guaranteed loans through a program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide relief to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, prosecutors said.
Outside court on Monday, Bicher said he has a “fantastic story” to tell, though he quickly added: “My story will come out, just not today.”
Ohio
Prosecutors: Mom charged in death of toddler left alone for 10 days
CLEVELAND (AP) — Prosecutors in Ohio have announced murder charges against a woman in the death of her 16-month-old daughter, who authorities say was left alone for 10 days while the woman went on vacation.
The Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said Monday that Kristel A. Candelario, 31, was indicted last week on one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder and one count each of felonious assault and endangering children.
Prosecutors alleged that Candelario left the child “alone and unattended” at her Cleveland home June 6 to vacation in Detroit and Puerto Rico and didn’t return until the morning of June 16. Authorities say she called police after finding the child unresponsive upon her return.
Cleveland police and fire personnel responded and the victim, who was described as “extremely dehydrated,” was pronounced deceased.
“It is unfathomable that a mother would leave her 16-month-old child alone without any supervision for 10 days to go on a vacation,” Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said in a statement.
“As parents, we are supposed to protect and care for our children,” O’Malley wrote. “Imagining this child’s suffering, during her last days of life alone, is truly horrifying and we will do everything in our power to seek justice on her behalf.”
It’s unclear whether Candelario has an attorney. Court records did not list an attorney for her and the county public defender’s office said Friday that it was not, as of that point, representing her.
New York
Federal judge gives approval to $290 million deal reached with Epstein victims
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge in New York City gave preliminary approval Monday to a $290 million deal that JPMorgan Chase reached with sex victims of financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff praised lawyers on both sides for working out the deal announced earlier this month.
He called it a “really fine settlement.”
In lawsuits, lawyers for victims said JPMorgan gave Epstein loans and let him withdraw large sums of cash from 1998 through August 2013.
The bank continued to count Epstein as a client even after he was arrested and pled guilty in 2008 to sex crimes in Florida.
The bank has said it now regrets any interaction the bank had with Epstein while he was a client.
Lawsuits are still pending between the U.S. Virgin Islands and JPMorgan Chase, and the bank is still pursuing its lawsuit against a JPMorgan former executive.
Epstein was 66 when he apparently took his life in a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges that were brought against him a month earlier.
The settlement awaits final approval.
Florida
Woman charged with manslaughter in shooting of Black neighbor
A white woman accused of firing through her door and fatally shooting a Black mother in front of her 9-year-old son in central Florida was charged Monday with manslaughter and assault.
Susan Lorincz was arrested earlier this month following the fatal shooting of Ajike Owens in Ocala, Florida. She was formally charged with one count of manslaughter with a firearm and one count of assault.
State Attorney William Gladson said his office contemplated filing a second-degree murder charge but that prosecutors concluded there was insufficient evidence that Lorincz had “hatred, spite, ill will or evil intent” toward Owens.
“As deplorable as the defendant’s actions were in this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove this specific and required element of second-degree murder,” Gladson said in a statement. “I am aware of the desire of the family, and some community members, that the defendant be charged with second-degree murder. My obligation as State Attorney is to follow the law in each case that I prosecute.”
If convicted, Lorincz faces up to 30 years in prison. Amanda Sizemore, Lorincz’s attorney from the public defender’s office, said she had no comment at this time.
Anthony Thomas, an attorney for Owens’ family, said the decision against filing a second-degree murder charge was disappointing.
“We firmly believe that justice demands nothing less,” Thomas said in a statement. “The failure of the prosecutor to charge Susan with what truly reflected her wanton, reckless behavior undermines our ability to even get real accountability.”
Owens was killed June 2 in Ocala, about 83 miles (133 kilometers) north of Orlando.
After the shooting, Lorincz told investigators she had problems for two years with being disrespected by children in the neighborhood — including Owens’ children, who are ages 12, 9, 7 and 3.
According to an arrest report from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Lorincz said she had a headache the day of the shooting and that children were running and yelling outside her apartment. That night, while a few children were playing basketball, Lorincz threw a pair of roller skates at them, hitting one on the feet.
Owens then came over and knocked on her door. Lorincz told investigators that Owens threatened to kill her and banged on the door so hard she feared Owens would break it down.
Lorincz fired a single round from her .380-caliber handgun, the sheriff’s report says, which went through the closed door and fatally struck Owens.
A judge has granted Lorincz a $154,000 bond while ordering her to wear an ankle monitor and to stay away from Owens’ family.
North Dakota
Medical waste company says health system delivered human torso in plastic
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A dispute over the handling of medical waste has led to a lawsuit about a health system breaking North Dakota law by delivering a human torso concealed in a plastic container for disposal.
Monarch Waste Technologies disposes of medical waste, such as infectious and biohazardous material for Sanford Health.
In a lawsuit filed in Cass County, Monarch Health alleges that Healthcare Environmental Services (HES), which is overseen by Sanford Health, engaged in what it called “surreptitious” activities designed to suggest that Monarch had mismanaged medical waste at a treatment facility, KFYR-TV reported Monday.
The lawsuit said HES delivered a human torso concealed in a plastic container to Monarch, and that an HES employee signed delivery documents for the torso without Monarch’s knowledge.
Monarch CEO David Cardenas said dealing with human remains violates the company’s protocols and regulations. He said recognizable body parts as large as a torso go to crematoriums, “not through a shredder.”
“And especially when it’s done under cover of us not knowing. It’s just disturbing,” Cardenas said.
A Sanford Health spokesperson said the lawsuit was the result of Monarch’s “demonstrated inability to perform waste disposal services it had contractually agreed to perform.”
The spokesperson said the company denies the allegations and plans to file its own claims against Monarch.
Florida
Judge gives death sentence to man who killed girl, babysitter
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A judge in southwest Florida handed down a death sentence Monday for a man convicted of killing an 11-year-old girl and her babysitter more than 30 years ago.
Lee Circuit Judge Robert Branning was following last month’s 10-2 jury recommendation in favor of death for Joseph Zieler, according to court records. The same panel had found Zieler, 61, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder.
Florida law had previously required a unanimous jury recommendation for a convicted murderer to face the death penalty. But a new law signed in April by Gov. Ron DeSantis requires only an 8-4 vote in favor of execution.
Zieler was jailed on an unrelated assault charge in 2016 when his DNA matched to the cold-case murders of Robin Cornell, 11, and Lisa Story, 32, authorities said.
The girl and the woman were found in a Cape Coral apartment in May 1990, officials said. Robin’s mother had been out for the night and discovered the suffocated bodies when she returned the next morning. Investigators said both victims were sexually assaulted.
Cape Coral is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tampa.
