Evgeny “Gene” Freidman was commonly referred to as New York City’s Taxi King — notably by the New York attorney general’s office and the law firms that have filed suit against him.
At one point, Freidman owned more than 800 taxi medallions, the metal plates on the hoods of yellow cabs that allow them to operate legally on the New York City streets. But in the past few years, Freidman has experienced a precipitous fall.
Freidman has reportedly agreeed to cooperate with the US government as a potential witness against his longtime business partner, Michael Cohen as part of a plea deal. The deal with prosecutors may have resounding implications not just for himself, but for special counsel Robert Mueller and his ongoing Russia probe.
Here’s a look at the rise and fall of New York City’s Taxi King.
Journey to the US.
Freidman’s father was a thermonuclear engineer in Russia, but in 1976 he immigrated to the US with his wife and son amid growing Soviet anti-Semitism. Gene was 5 at the time.
In the US, Freidman’s father worked in the taxi business and started a company that he would later pass on to his son.
Source: Crain’s New York
From modest taxi business to Taxi King.
When Freidman took over his father’s taxi business, the company owned 60 yellow cabs. Under several LLCs, Freidman increased that to more than 800.
Crain’s New York reports that Freidman’s profits increased from $ 2.5 million in 1996 to $ 120 million in 2012.
Freidman’s companies often had interesting names, such as Hypnotic Taxi LLC, Milkyway Cab Corp., and Bourbon Taxi LLC.
Source: New York State Attorney General/Crain’s New York
Medallion prices skyrocket … for a time.
In 2013, New York City taxi medallions auctioned off for a record $ 1.32 million. In 2015, Freidman told Bloomberg that he operated more than 1,100 medallions. That would put the worth of Freidman’s taxi fleet in the neighborhood of $ 1.5 billion.
Unfortunately for Freidman, the rise of Uber and other ride-hailing services caused a seismic shift in the transportation industry. Today, medallions have plummeted in value.
For many medallion owners who had borrowed against the value of their medallions, the falling value of their investments meant troubled times ahead.
Source: Bloomberg/City of New York
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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