U.S. v. Shray Goel & Shaunik Raheja

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.

Familiar names:  According to the superseding indictment, the fake host accounts used as part of the scheme 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.