Evgeny Alender Freidman, known as Gene Freidman, is a controversial Russian-American businessman who formerly owned a large taxi fleet in New York City, Taxi Club Management. He is a disbarred attorney who has been dubbed the "Taxi King" or "Kingpin." He is a convicted felon, and has faced repeated criminal and civil legal issues.
Starting with his father's taxi fleet, Freidman began with 60 yellow cabs and expanded to 900 by 2015. He led the company from a valuation of $2.5 million in 1996 to $120 million in 2009. In 2008, Freidman was listed on Crain's New York Businesslist of "40 Under 40". Taxi Club Management permanently closed in 2018. While Michael Cohen worked for The Trump Organization, he had had Freidman manage his remaining taxi fleet, after Simon Garber purchased the management of most of Cohen's large fleet.
Legal issues
In 2013, Freidman reached a settlement with the New York State Attorney General's office and the Taxi and Limousine Commission over excessive charges to taxi drivers working for three of Freidman's companies. Freidman agreed to pay $750,000 in restitution to drivers and $500,000 in fines. The Attorney General sued Freidman in April 2015 for failing to live up to the terms of the 2013 settlement and for further violations. The suit was settled in April 2016 with Freidman required to pay over $250,000 in fines, damages, and restitution. In July 2016, Freidman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for companies that own approximately 90 of his nearly 900 taxi medallions, in an attempt to protect those medallions from foreclosure action by lenders. In December 2016, he agreed to surrender 46 of his medallions to settle obligations to Citibank. In September 2016 Freidman was evicted from his longtime headquarters after falling $170,000 behind on his rent. In April 2017 the Taxi and Limosine Commission refused to renew more than 800 of Freidman's licenses which had expired. According to a report at that time, Freidman still owned about 150 taxi medallions. In June 2017, Freidman along with Taxi Club Management's CFO Andreea Dumitru were indicted with four counts of criminal tax fraud in the first degree and one count of grand larceny in the first degree. The indictments alleged that Freidman's company stole $5 million by never paying the state for a 50-cent surcharge, known as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority tax. On May 22, 2018, Freidman pleaded guilty to one count of criminal tax fraud in the second degree. As part of his plea deal within Freidman must pay restitution in the amount of $1,000,000 to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. Freidman’s sentence was suspended to allow him to complete his restitution payments. If he satisfies the terms of the agreement, he will be sentenced to 5 years’ probation. Freidman was ordered to Cook County Jail on Dec. 11, 2017 by Judge David B. Atkins for "indirect criminal contempt of court" for a violation of a court order from June 15, 2016. From a lawsuit with his former partner Savas Tsitiridis, both parties had been ordered not to have a Dispatch taxi employee, Anita Cisneros, "to perform work which is not for the exclusive benefit of Dispatch or Pure." On December 11, 2017, Freidman began serving his 28 day sentence in Cook County Jail in Chicago, IL.
Disbarment
On July 13, 2017, Freidman was suspended from practicing law then, on May 1, 2018; he was barred from practicing law as an attorney in New York, for having failed to respond to notices or appear for investigation related to his suspension.
Sexual Harassment
In June 2018, Freidman lost a lawsuit to his former assistant whom he was found to have repeatedly sexually harassed. A New York court ordered him to pay $1.3 million in damages.
Politics
Freidman raised more than $50,000 for Mayor Bill de Blasio's campaign and arranged meetings between City Hall and the head of the NYPD sergeants union.
