Two cousins – one from Southern California and the other from Denver, Colorado – pleaded guilty on April 14 to federal crimes involving a double-booking bait-and-switch scam run through online short-term property rental platforms.

Shray Goel, 37, of Calabasas, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. Shaunik Raheja, 36, of Denver, pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice. According to plea agreements, Goel and Raheja started an online business in 2013 that listed properties for short-term rentals through online platforms and rented properties in Los Angeles, Malibu, San Diego, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver and Milwaukee, as well cities in Indiana, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas. They operated the business under different legal entities and business names including Abbot Pacific LLC and Jet Set Work LLC.

From October 2017 to November 2019, Goel and Raheja used fake host names and other people’s identities to list properties. They used fake host accounts to conceal their own identities, double-book properties and post fabricated positive reviews.

Prosecutors said in some cases, Goel and Raheja listed fake addresses, addresses that did not have rental housing or that did not exist, and used the fake addresses to create duplicate listings for a single property. The fake addresses also allowed them to evade local rules and regulations governing short-term rentals, and to control who had access to properties.

The core of the operation was a double-booking bait-and-switch scheme, authorities said. Goel and Raheja listed the same property multiple times on a single platform and cross listed the property on multiple platforms. This was done, in part, to maximize the price the defendants could charge for rentals by listing different daily rates for the same property and renting to the guest that booked it for the highest price. The defendants also did not block calendars of competing listings after a property had been booked and continued to list the booked property as being available.

After a listing had been booked, the defendants chose which guest to host. For an overbooked guest – or a guest they did not want to host – the defendants lied and stated the property was unavailable, authorities said.

United States District Judge Wesley L. Hsu scheduled an Aug. 14 sentencing hearing for Goel, who faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. A sentencing hearing was scheduled on Sept. 11 for Raheja, who faces 10 years in federal prison.