CEO’S TAXI BRIBES
Charge ex-medallion lender took gifts from cab mogul
The CEO of a now-shuttered credit union was charged Thursday with accepting bribes from a taxi mogul in exchange for refinancing over $60 million in loans — the latest sign of a crackdown on a predatory industry accused of driving some cabbies to suicide.
Alan Kaufman ran Melrose Credit Union, which was one of the largest lenders of taxi medallion loans until it was closed last year. Among its many clients was President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
The new indictment appears to stem from charges brought by the watchdog National Credit Union Administration against Kaufman last year of unsafe business practices and “personal dishonesty.” Kaufman secretly took bribes from a taxi mogul, Tony Georgiton, as well as an unidentified media company, which sought more advertising from Melrose, according to the indictment.
The National Credit Union Administration’s charges identified the media company as CBS radio.
“Both Kaufman and Georgiton face criminal charges for their alleged self-dealing,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.
Kaufman, 60, faces bribery charges that carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He was released on $1 million bond. Georgiton, who has reportedly leased cabs to as many as 2,000 drivers through his company, Queens Medallion, also faces up to 30 years for alleged bribery of a financial institution officer. He was released on $500,000 bond.
The indictment claims that Kaufman lived rent-free for two years in Georgiton’s Long Island home starting in 2010. The following year he allegedly persuaded the credit union’s board to purchase the naming rights for a ballroom in Queens for $2 million. The “Melrose Ballroom” was owned by a company controlled by Georgiton, according to the indictment.
Meanwhile, Kaufman personally approved the refinancing of $60 million in loans to Georgiton’s company without disclosing its ties to Melrose’s board, according to the indictment.
Kaufman was also charged with a separate bribery scheme involving the media company identified by the National Credit union as CBS Radio. Kaufman accepted luxury vacations from the company in exchange for more advertising for Melrose, according to the indictment. Prosecutors said he did not disclose the gratis getaways to Paris and Hawaii with his girlfriend to Melrose’s board, violating its anti-bribery policy. The vacations were worth tens of thousands of dollars, prosecutors said.
Michael Jaccarino, an attorney for Georgiton, said his client is an immigrant who’d lifted himself up by his own bootstraps.
“I’m not exactly sure why they’re dragging him into whatever activity may have been done or not done by the credit union,” Jaccarino said. A call to Kaufman’s attorney was not returned.
Mayor de Blasio announced last month that the city will waive $10 million in taxi medallion fees as the city tries to help cabbies recover from predatory loans that have left them deeply in debt. The industry has seen revenue slashed by a a third compared with only six years ago due to competition from e-hail companies like Uber.