Hotel Guest Wins $1.6 Million After Assault by Unregistered Massage Therapist at Sixty LES

In October 2018, Margaret Betts booked an in-room massage at the Sixty Lower East Side Hotel in Manhattan. The hotel arranged for a massage therapist named Iouri Astakhov to enter her suite. Astakhov was not registered or authorized to practice massage therapy in New York, a credential the hotel never bothered to check.

What followed was a sexual assault. Betts filed suit in the Southern District of New York in 2020, represented by Joseph Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC. The case charged the hotel and its parent entities with negligence, alleging they handed an unknown man unsupervised access to a guest's private room after telling her in-room spa services could be safely provided there.

During litigation, discovery confirmed the hotel had no meaningful screening process for the independent contractors it sent into guest rooms. It had not investigated Astakhov's certifications, his criminal history, or his registration status. The hotel falsely implied to guests that these services were vetted and safe.

In August 2023, Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald granted Betts partial summary judgment on liability. The court found that by using an unregistered massage therapist, the hotel had violated New York Education Law section 7802, and that violation constituted negligence per se. The hotel's subsequent motion to vacate that ruling was denied.

The case proceeded to a jury trial on damages. On July 17, 2025, the jury awarded Betts $1 million for past pain and suffering and $375,000 for future pain and suffering, with fault apportioned 50 percent to the defendants. The court also awarded pre-judgment interest of $237,677.81, which accrued from the date of the liability ruling. The total judgment entered was $1,612,667.81. The hotel moved to reduce the damages award and the court denied that motion as well, finding the compensation reasonable.