Bankruptcy Judge Carla E. Craig on Wednesday ruled that New York taxi tycoon Evgeny "Gene" Freidman must surrender 46 of his taxicabs and medallions to a chapter 7 trustee or face arrest, TheStreet.com reported yesterday. Freidman owns more medallions than any other individual in the city: 830 of the 13,000-plus in circulation. His empire has proved to be anything but invincible in recent years, though, as Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing startups have shaken New York's yellow cab industry. Freidman put holding companies possessing 46 of those medallions into chapter 11 in July 2015, placing the blame for their collapse squarely on Uber and Lyft. The cases were converted to a chapter 7 liquidation on Sept. 22 after Freidman failed to produce a realistic reorganization plan and then attempted to publicly abandon the cabs outside the Queens office of creditor Citibank.
