“If this happens by law you are not obligated to talk to them. Keep walking and do not answer their questions,” read the sign. “They will try to intimidate you and tell you that they need to check for fire hazards in the house but these are all tricks to get in the house … They might even tell you they are the police but this is illegal, they are not the police. DO NOT LET ANYONE IN THE HOUSE. Let’s keep Airbnb alive! :) ”

By the time a guest disobeyed the sign, things had gotten dire. On May 3, inspectors from the city building department and the Office of Special Enforcement found three guests from South Carolina accidentally locked into their room on the first floor, trapping them in the building; the inspectors also found two guests from Brooklyn and two guests from Singapore in different rooms on the second floor—all of whom had booked stays through Airbnb—according to affidavits filed by the inspectors.

"For years these linked operators have been operating and making money on Airbnb without a problem." Christian Klossner, New York City Office of Special Enforcement

The inspectors smelled gas and called the fire department, which found a gas leak, according to inspectors’ affidavits. The commissioner of the building department ordered the second floor vacated after a review determined that the conditions described in the inspectors’ report were “imminently perilous to life, public safety or the safety of the occupants or danger to property,” according to court documents. The illegally constructed extra rooms lacked required exits, sprinklers, and fire alarms, “rendering apartment unsafe to occupy,” the documents say.

The guests told the inspectors that their Airbnb host was a man named Bloz, according to an affidavit from an inspector. The person listing the apartment identified themself as “Bloz Rajkovic.” Between 2015 and 2019, Rajkovic’s account accepted more than 2,500 reservations from more than 5,000 guests at more than a dozen listings, generating $675,297 in revenue, according to Airbnb transaction data obtained by the city.

All profiles and listings mentioned in the lawsuit were removed from Airbnb’s site by Wednesday. However, an OSE researcher identified an archived version of Rajkovic’s profile, showing the account was more than six years old, and had garnered 1,524 reviews as a host. In his bio, included as an exhibit in the lawsuit, Rajkovic described himself as a “young professional who has a large townhouse in Astoria” and lists his occupation as “Airbnb.”

The account is marked as “verified,” ostensibly a sign that Airbnb checked his name and information against some form of government ID. But listing, host, and transaction data provided by Airbnb suggests that Bloz Rajkovic, the Airbnb host, might not exist.

Airbnb said the Rajkovic account had been made before its verification policy took effect. It declined to say whether the government ID associated with the account matched the name “Bloz Rajkovic.” The company said the Rajkovic account was one of many the company recently discovered had evaded its enforcement efforts. The account was removed from the platform before the lawsuit was filed, Airbnb said.

Court documents state that, of the $675,297 earned by the account, $127,813—covering more than 480 bookings associated with one listing on 48th Street in Queens—went into the bank account of Tominovic, who owns, co-owns, or manages many of the buildings named in the suit. The city claims Tominovic has a history of running illegal short-term rentals, citing a cease-and-desist order issued to him in 2014. In 2017, the city fined him $7,000 for illegal short-term rentals at another building in Queens; Tominovic said he had “rented out the upstairs/duplex to transients/Airbnb” for a time, but converted it back following the fine. Since then, multiple anonymous complaints have been filed with the city alleging the building is “being used as a hotel,” public records show.

The court documents in the new case say that 66 payments ($25,828) for the 48th Street listing went into the bank account of Tominovic’s domestic partner. Payments for 476 reservations ($97,964) at the Astoria townhouse went into the bank account of a corporation associated with Tominovic’s domestic partner and parents, the lawsuit alleges. And 66 payments ($16,034) for reservations at an unknown address went to a bank account allegedly associated with Tominovic’s sister.