Legal Record Demand

[Emily393]

I received the email below informing me that AirBnb was responding to a records demand in a state that I haven't lived or hosted in in 7 years- I think I only rented out my spare room there twice. I called the prosecutor, who said it was an ongoing investigation and they couldn't tell me anything, though when prompted they did say they were investigating AirBnb and not me personally. No response yet from AirBnb on the matter, though I expect them to be just as oblique. 

Has anybody received anything similar? Know what it's about? 

Emily 

My name is Jen and I work on the Law Enforcement Response Team at Airbnb. This email is intended for the owner of this account.

Airbnb, Inc. and Airbnb Payments, Inc. have received a legal demand from Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office to provide certain records associated with your listing(s) in West Virginia. Pursuant to Airbnb Policy, we are providing this notice to you as the account holder whose records appear to be the subject of the legal demand. Airbnb may be required to respond to this demand and provide responsive documents within 14 days of this email to you.

If you or your representative apply to a Court with a motion to quash the legal request or for a protective order to prevent or delay or impose conditions on the potential production of records, or for any other relief related to this legal request, please let us know immediately so that we may act accordingly.

In the event that you have applied to a Court for an order to prevent the requesting party from receiving your data, Airbnb requires that you forward a copy of your application to:

Airbnb, Inc. and Airbnb Payments, Inc.

Attn: Legal Counsel

888 Brannan Street, 4th Floor

San Francisco, California, 94103 USA

Otherwise, we will produce documents in response to the legal demand within approximately 14 days from this notice.

If you have any questions regarding the legal process served, you can contact Mr. Robert Schulenberg, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, at 304-357-0300. If you have any questions regarding Airbnb or would like to contact us, you can contact the Law Enforcement Response Team at Airbnb at LEOinfo@airbnb.com.

Respectfully,

Airbnb’s Law Enforcement Response Team

[Emily393]

Update: I have received a copy of the subpoena, and it is for an obscene amount of information, including my credit card numbers, bank account routing numbers, all of my guests' bank account numbers and cc numbers, social security numbers, etc. This is for a time period during which I didn't even have a listing in the state, so while this does not seem to be a data grab for any of my guests, it certainly looks like it is for me. 

I have left a message with the prosecuting attorney, and am waiting to hear back. Of course, Airbnb is telling me to talk to the prosecutor, and the prosecutor is telling me they can't share information about an ongoing investigation and I should talk to Airbnb, who is conveniently not leaving me a decent way to reach them outside of the usual crap channels. 

Everyone should be aware that this is happening. 

[Mark116]

@Emily393  That's creepy. 

I would tell the prosecutor that you aren't comfortable with the amount of data you see on the subpoena, and that unfortunately, if they aren't able to share any more information about the purpose and the target or targets you will reluctantly file for a court order to quash the subpoena....assuming you can do that yourself by filing online and not have to hire a lawyer.  You could also hire/consult a lawyer about this to protect yourself.  You could also threaten to file an order to quash even if you don't intend to and this may get them either to 1) give you more information or 2) narrow the scope of the search and take out some of the crazy details like all your info, SS and such.

Keep us posted, I'd be interested to know how this resolves.

[Emily393]

Since they didn't send me anything by mail and it went to the "promotions" tab in my gmail, I missed the 14 day window, so hopefully it's not too late. The prosecuter's office says it's an investigation into Airbnb, not me or any guests, which makes the financial information they are demanding all the more curious (and alarming). I left WV largely because of the state government's corruption and their equally corrupt and incompetent legal system. Even if it doesn't have to do with me, I don't trust anybody in that state to keep my information secure once it's handed over. 

I don't really have the time or money to hire a lawyer (I'm one of the people who rents a spare room for extra cash, not the multiple houses I own), so I guess we'll see how it plays out. I'll update whenever I hear something. 

[Mark116]

@Emily393  Really weird.  Is W. VA or the county/city your old listing was in anti-STR?  I know NYC has tried to get all the hosts full info. from airbnb but the purpose of this is to find, fine, punish and eliminate the listings that are considered illegal.  But since your listing isn't active, it seems really strange, especially for a state like W.VA which my guess is, doesn't have a ton of airbnb's in the first place.  

As you probably know, law enforcement is not always fully truthful during an investigative phase, and unless they've issued a similar subpoena for a lot of airbnb's like as if they wanted some financials to prepare a tax plan or something, I don't get it.  Good luck.  

[Denise-and-Henrik0]

Any update?  I just got this exact email today. 

I used to to have an Airbnb in Hawaii. Sold it and moved out of stare 3 years ago. Haven’t had any contact with Airbnb or the state since. 

Now this email. No other info. Really worried as it’s something I’ve got to fight with now. Any update on what happened?

thanks

[Nicole1424]

Denise, 

I just got an email about this from Airbnb, seems to be the same situation. We also sold our property over three years ago, and I don't know what to make of this. How did it shake out for you??