‘Taxi King’ a hack

Cab mogul ripped off $5M in surcharges: AG

Notorious “Taxi King” Gene Freidman was arrested at his Manhattan home on charges he ripped off the state for millions of dollars in taxi surcharges, authorities said.

Freidman, 46, who has been subject to a slew of criminal charges, civil suits and professional penalties for his shady business dealings over the past two years, was indicted in Albany on Wednesday on four counts of criminal tax fraud and one count of first-degree grand larceny, said state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 8¹/3 to 25 years in prison, meaning Freidman (inset) potentially could face decades behind bars. His chief financial officer, Andreea Dumitru, 41, faces the same charges.

Freidman, who managed more than 800 medallions, failed to hand over more than $5 million collected in 50cent surcharges on approximately 10 million cab rides from 2012 to 2015. That money was supposed to go to the state to help fund the MTA, Schneiderman said.

“The ‘Taxi King’ built his empire by stealing from New Yorkers, pocketing money that should have instead been invested in our transportation system,” the AG said.

Freidman also failed to pay money owed to the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission. Officials declined to say how much he owes, but industry insiders pegged the amount at about $4 million.

Many of the owners of the medallions that Freidman managed are furious with him, saying they are now on the hook for the money he was supposed to pay. Mike Susini, who owns four medallions that Freidman managed, claims the mogul took him for more than $180,000, which includes $90,000 owed to the state, $23,000 owed to the city and fraudulent loans that Freidman took out in Susini’s name.

“Now I’m getting lawsuits and judgments and liens,” said Susini said. “I’m extremely happy that he got arrested. I hope justice will be done.”

Cops busted Freidman at his Upper East Side home Tuesday.

Earlier this year, the TLC declined to renew Freidman’s cab-management licenses and he lost dozens of the cabs he owned to bankruptcy, but he still has a few dozen, sources say.

Taxi operations have hit hard times and medallions values have plummeted due to ride-share apps such as Uber.