£40m fraudster sub-lets luxury homes in new Airbnb scandal
A FRAUDSTER behind a £40million scam has been illegally subletting properties for sky-high fees on holiday rentals site Airbnb.
Robert Gavin, 39, has rented at least ten properties during the past few months and then advertised them on Airbnb.
They include a picturesque 18th Century three-bedroom cottage in the Peak District, which he packed with beds and mattresses to sublet to parties of up to 24 people.
He charged up to £1,200 a night and brought noisy chaos to the area, while paying rent of just £1,350 a month.
In 2016, Gavin, originally from Barnsley, and a former business partner were found to have taken more than £40million from many elderly and vulnerable victims in an investment fraud prosecuted by US authorities.
Now back in the UK, Gavin has duped a string of unsuspecting homeowners into renting him their homes before he sub-lets them.
The 51-year-old owner of the Peak District cottage said: ‘He’s very manipulative. I eventually got him out by changing the locks but he tried to say we should talk because we could both make money. There were parties of people there every week – I just thought he was having some friends round.
‘One week there was a group of 20 people with cannabis bongs and a Taliban flag flying outside – the police were called.’
Gavin also rented a two-bedroom flat on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile for £1,200 a month before offering it to people hosting parties for 35 guests for up to £495 a night.
The flat’s owner, retired lawyer Frances Sharp, 60, told how Gavin has sub-let the property over the past three months and she is unable to end his tenancy.
She said: ‘I’ve not been able to get into the apartment – it’s ridiculous. Airbnb wouldn’t even discuss it with me. I spoke to them and they said, “It’s nothing to do with us – it’s between you and the tenant.” It’s completely unregulated.’
Gavin also signed an agreement for a five-bed cottage with a tennis court in Deepcar, South Yorkshire, before trying to sub-let it at £400 a night to guests. He has advertised at least three properties in York, a second apartment in Edinburgh, and another four flats in the centre of Sheffield on Airbnb.
In the US, Gavin and his partner’s North Dakota Developments firm was found by the Securities and Exchange Commission to have committed fraud and ‘misappropriated’ money from a £40million fund.
In 2017, Airbnb was criticised after it was revealed that almost a million holidaymakers were victims of fraud on the site.
A spokesman for Airbnb said: ‘We have zero tolerance for illegal activity and have suspended the users while we investigate.’
Gavin did not respond to requests to comment.