Airbnb for days refused to refund a woman who says she fled a Harlem apartment rental after realizing the host was charged with sex crimes — but the company finally reversed course just hours after Gothamist contacted it about her case.
Winston Nguyen, who is facing charges that he solicited sexually explicit images from teenagers while working as a math teacher for St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn, has been removed from Airbnb’s platform, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday evening by email. The woman, Natasha Harrington, will be provided a full refund, according to the spokesperson.
The email didn’t address why Airbnb’s background checks failed to flag Nguyen, a former “Jeopardy!” champion whose arrest earlier this year was well-publicized. The company warns in its online guidance that a renter can’t rely on those background checks alone, because they may not reveal “comprehensive or recent criminal record activity” due to gaps or lags in reporting in available…
