Inside the Airbnb Maze: How Traffickers Exploit Short-Term Rentals

In September, the Georgia Attorney General’s Office announced that the last two defendants in a sweeping human trafficking and gang case had been convicted, bringing to a close a multi-year campaign against the Last One To Take Over gang, better known as LOTTO.

The verdicts against Eric Duane Johnson and Bobby Jamaine Downing marked the culmination of a sprawling 97-count prosecution that revealed how LOTTO, a hybrid street organization with ties to the Crips and Gangster Disciples, trafficked five female victims, including a child, to expand its power, reputation, and control.

Johnson pleaded guilty to charges of gang activity, racketeering, and pimping; Downing admitted involvement in human trafficking, gang crimes, and conspiracy. With their convictions, all nine individuals initially charged in the case are behind bars, including gang leaders Sean Patrick Harvey and Sean Aaron Curry.

What began with a May 2022 shooting in Gwinnett County ultimately exposed how the gang weaponized short-term rentals, in this case Airbnb, to sustain a violent human trafficking ring. By constantly moving victims — including a child — between Airbnb and other rental properties across metro Atlanta, LOTTO concealed its operations from neighbors, landlords, and police.

Here’s how these trafficking masterminds so often get away with it.