‘Taxi King’ Ordered to Pay $1.3 Million in Sexual-Harassment Suit

A judge ordered Evgeny “Gene” Freidman, known as New York’s “Taxi King,” to pay over $1.34 million in a sexual-harassment lawsuit. Freidman, reportedly a business associate of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, was ordered to pay compensatory and punitive damages to his former employee Elaine Gutierrez. Her lawsuit claims that he made comments about her body both in private and in front of others, forced her to pick up papers he tossed on the floor, harassed her in front of her daughter, and fired her for speaking about the alleged harassment she endured. Gutierrez worked for Freidman at Taxi Club Management. “In the #MeToo era, the message is clear: no one, not even the so-called ‘Taxi King,’ is above the law when it comes to workplace sexual harassment,” Gutierrez’s attorney said in a statement.