Who is Austin Franco? US student accused of anti-Semitism after saying he was ‘not interested in working for Jews’

A summer internship application at a New York startup took a shocking turn after a Cornell University student turned down an interview opportunity with an anti-Semitic message, telling the company he was “not interested in working for a Jew.” Thanks. “Austin Franco, 19, sent the message after applying for a summer position at VryfID. VryfID is a New York-based startup that helps renters connect with landlords and verify their identities to reduce fraud. The company is run by brothers Gabe Einhorn and Aiden Einhorn, who are Jewish.Franco has submitted an application and is being considered for a position on the company’s growth team, according to the founders. However, when the company tried to arrange a Zoom interview through the job search platform Handshake, Franco responded with an eight-word message that shocked the brothers.“Sad world,” Gabe Einhorn, 24, wrote on X on Monday, sharing a screenshot of the exchange.Gabe later told the New York Post that he decided to go public about the incident because he wanted to draw attention to anti-Semitism.“I feel bad about exposing him because I think he may have made a mistake and he doesn’t wholeheartedly believe it,” Gabe said.Any doubt about Franco’s intentions disappeared. A day later, the Cornell University student defended his comments in a post on X.“My experiences with Jews, both in person and online, have been negative. That’s not to say I haven’t had positive experiences, but that’s generally not the case,” Franco wrote.The incident has now triggered an investigation at Cornell University, where Franco studies industrial and labor relations, the New York Post reported. His LinkedIn profile has been deleted.“Cornell University condemns anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred and discrimination in the strongest possible terms,” ​​a university spokesperson said.The controversy also drew attention to VryfID, a startup founded in 2025 by Gabe and his brother Aiden Einhorn, a 22-year-old NYU business school student.“Instead of struggling to find an apartment and being turned down, we have tenants sign up and pay $20 to be verified. And then we actually bring them apartments that they actually qualify for,” Gabe explained.“For landlords, it helps them fill their units and bring them the right tenants.”Gabe often speaks openly about his Jewish faith and wears a kippah. He said he had encountered hostility online before, but never in such a direct way.“I’ve seen some horrible things across the board — anti-Semitic things, and just horrible things in general,” he said, adding that he had received multiple death threats via social media.“People just love spreading hate on social media because they’re anonymous and it doesn’t have any repercussions.”Despite these experiences, the brothers said Franco’s reaction was still shocking.“My brother and I looked at each other like, ‘What?’ We’d never really experienced [antisemitism] Just this,” Gabe said.“The whole thing is very shocking and unnecessary.”