TRUMP LAWYER’S CHICAGO TAXI SNAG
Michael D. Cohen, whose office was just raided in the Russia investigation, operates 22 taxis here, a dozen of them cited for city ordinance violations
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney Michael D. Cohen, whose law offices the FBI raided Monday after he acknowledged paying porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump, owns five companies that operate 22 taxicabs in Chicago.
A dozen of the cabs owned by Cohen have been cited for undisclosed violations of city ordinances, according to records maintained online by the city of Chicago’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates taxis.
But a spokeswoman for the city agency said she wouldn’t disclose any information about Cohen’s cabs, including the violations, without a formal public records request filed under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, which gives the city at least five days to produce records.
Cohen is a former business partner of Symon Garber, a Russian immigrant who became Chicago’s largest taxicab operator after befriending Mayor Richard M. Daley’s son Patrick Daley more than 15 years ago.
Garber also operates a fleet of cabs in New York City, where he once managed taxis Cohen owned. It doesn’t appear that Cohen’s cabs have been a part of the fleet of maroon- colored cabs Garber operates in Chicago under the names of Chicago Carriage Cab and Royal 3 CCC Taxi.
Cohen owns 22 taxicab medallions — the metal license attached to the hood of each taxi — through five companies he established in Illinois.
Flash Cab operates 10 taxis owned by Cohen’s companies Rush Hour Cab Corp. and Love Bug Cab Corp.
The other dozen are affiliated with Dispatch Taxi, records show, though an employee of that company said he believed Cohen’s cabs no longer are in operation because of the city violations. Those cabs are owned by Cohen’s Tailgater Cab Corp., Gridlock Cab Corp. and Fender Bender Cab Corp.
Cohen and his wife owe more than $ 53,000 in taxes on the 32 taxicab medallions they have in New York City, the New York Daily News has reported. Investigators who raided Cohen’s New York office also sought business records on his dealings in the taxi industry, the Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the investigation.
Cohen has acknowledged paying $ 130,000 of his own money to Daniels prior to the president’s election to keep her from divulging her claims that she had sex with Trump.
The president has denied having sex with Daniels and said he knew nothing about his lawyer paying her.