Queens-Based Lawyer for 'Taxi King' Pleads Guilty to Role in Tax Scheme
Andreea Dumitru, 43, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Albany County Court to one count of third-degree criminal tax fraud, according to a news release from the New York Attorney General's Office.
June 01, 2018 at 01:50 PM
3 minute read
Getty Images/iStockphoto The lawyer for a New York City livery magnate known as the “Taxi King” has been convicted for taking part in a scheme to bilk $5 million in tax revenue earmarked for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Andreea Dumitru, 43, pleaded guilty on Thursday in Albany County Court to one count of third-degree criminal tax fraud, according to a news release from the New York Attorney General's Office. Dumitru, whose law office is based in Queens, worked as the chief financial officer for a massive taxi fleet run by Evgeny Freidman, 46, a business associate of Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer. According to the attorney general's release, as part of her plea deal Dumitru has agreed to cooperate with the Attorney General's Office in its ongoing investigation into Freidman's taxicab businesses and pay $25,000 in criminal restitution. Freidman had pleaded guilty to criminal tax fraud on May 22 for his role in the scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015 to pocket 50-cent surcharges applied to cab rides that were intended to fund the MTA. Freidman has agreed to cooperate with the government as a potential witness. The tax case was not the extent of Dumitru's legal troubles: she was indicted in March in the Southern District of New York on charges that she submitted more than 180 asylum applications that contained false statements about the asylum seekers' personal histories and narratives. Dumitru has pleaded not guilty in the alleged immigration fraud scheme. Freidman managed a fleet of more than 800 taxicab medallions, including dozens owned by Cohen, whose business dealings are under investigation by federal prosecutors. Following Freidman's conviction, Cohen tweeted that he entrusted the medallions he owned to management companies like those run by Freidman, but rejected characterizations of the two men as business "partners." “Gene Freidman and I are not partners and have never been partners in this business or any other,” Cohen tweeted. Freidman was a lawyer but was suspended last year for failing to cooperate with an investigation into allegations of professional misconduct and bounced checks drawn against his Interest on Lawyer Account. In May, the Appellate Division, First Department disbarred Freidman for failing respond to the grievance committee within six months of his suspension.
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