Airbnb pays an Australian woman $7 million after she got raped in NYC apartment

According to media reports, Airbnb paid a tourist $ 7 million after she was allegedly raped at the knifepoint at a rental house in New York City.

Bloomberg News reported that an Australian traveller received the money after six years as the attack happened on New Year's Eve in 2015. The victim and her friends had gone to pick up the keys to the property in a nearby store that evening, it says, but the suspect made a copy of the keys to the apartment he visited as a guest before an attack.

The tourist returned after midnight while the suspect, 24-year-old Junior Lee, ostensibly hid in the bathroom, Bloomberg reported. Mr Lee is charged with predatory sexual assault. He pleaded not guilty but remained in custody.

The Legal Aid Association, representing Mr Lee, declined to comment when approached by media.

After the alleged attack, an Airbnb security team contacted the local police department to provide assistance and place the victim in a hotel. It also offered to pay for expenses such as counselling and flew her mother from Australia overseas.

Bloomberg said the victim, as part of the $ 7 million settlement, could not blame Airbnb or the home host where the occurrence took place.

Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit stated, "In cases of sexual assault, in the settlements we've reached, survivors can talk freely about their experiences. That includes the NYC case."

The Airbnb prospectus, which was released before the company began operations last year, states that it does 'online background checks' for hosts and guests in the U.S., including criminal and public records.

"In some cases, we perform these checks again from time to time," he said.

"We also do host background checks in India before the first transaction.

We check all our hosts and guests against certain regulatory, terrorist and sanction watchlists to increase security for all parties."

Earlier this month, the company extended calls for a national registration system for short-term landlords, who must obtain a registration number from the government or a dedicated authority to list their homes on platforms such as Airbnb.

According to Airbnb, local authorities will be empowered to notify platforms about issues with presentations in their area and may also provide an opportunity to remove bad actors by preventing people from circumventing the rules by presenting them to a switch to another discussion site.

The latest news is part of a broader investigation by Bloomberg into safety standards on the rental platform. Since the attack, the company has not revised its rules on keys and where hosts may leave them.

Hosts on the program are not required to use keyboard locks or change keyboard codes between bookings. They also do not have to tell Airbnb who else has a copy of the property's key.