U.S. Department
of Justice
United States v. Shray Goel & Shaunik Raheja
Court Docket Number: 2:23-CR-623(A)-WLH (C.D. Cal.)
Court Assigned: This case is assigned to United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu, United States Courthouse, 350 W. 1st Street, Courtroom 9B (ninth floor), Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Criminal Charge: On January 3, 2024, Shray Goel and Shaunik Raheja (the “defendants”) were charged by superseding indictment with a criminal conspiracy to defraud online property rental platforms and guests booking properties through those platforms, and they were charged with additional counts of wire fraud related to the same alleged scheme. Defendant Goel was separately charged with aggravated identity theft related to his alleged use of other peoples’ identities to carry out the fraud.
To carry out the scheme, the defendants allegedly double-booked properties through multiple listings of the same property on online rental platforms, and then invented bogus last-minute excuses – often claiming plumbing problems – to cancel overbooked guests or trick them into moving to inferior replacement accommodations. According to the superseding indictment, they profited from the scheme by running a secret bidding war for the properties – posting multiple listings for the same property at different prices for the same night, and if multiple guests booked the same property, they kept the highest bidder and then cancelled or switched the lower-paying guests to a different property in the area. The scheme also allegedly allowed defendants to keep all of their properties in any given area at maximum capacity by using popular listings as bait to trick guests into booking those listings, and then steering overbooked guests at the last minute to less popular and open listings in the same area. The superseding indictment further alleges that defendants made decisions about which guests to keep and which to cancel based in part on their racial prejudices and discrimination, and in particular, that they tried to avoid renting to guests who were Black or African American or whom they perceived to be Black or African American.
According to the superseding indictment, the defendants used fake host names and in certain instances other people’s identities and identification documents (the “fake hosts” or “fake host accounts”), in order to conceal their own identities, to double-book properties, to hide negative reviews by de-listing and re-listing properties, to protect against properties being removed from the rental platforms, and to continue to list properties after they had been banned from at least one of the rental platforms because of repeated host cancellations and guest complaints.
According to the superseding indictment, the fake host accounts included: “Alex & Brittany,” “Annie & Chase,” “Becky & Andrew,” “Jess & Tyler,” “Kelsey & Jean,” “Kris & Becky,” “Rachel & Pete,” “Sarah & Jason,” “Stephen F.,” and “Taylor & Ryan,” among other names, and the properties used as part of the alleged scheme were located in: Los Angeles, California; Malibu, California; Marina Del Rey, California; Denver, Colorado; Chicago, Illinois; Davenport, Florida; Bloomington, Indiana; South Bend, Indiana; Cleveland, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Austin, Texas; Dallas, Texas; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, among other places.
For more information about the charge, please see below:
If you believe you were directly and proximately harmed as a result of these crimes or otherwise wish to assert rights under the Crime Victim Rights Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3771, including the right to confer with the government concerning this case, please email: USACAC.USvGoel@usdoj.gov.
The information on this website will be updated as new developments arise in the case.