In re Hypnotic Taxi, LLC

After Citibank (plaintiff) seized taxi medallions securing over $30 million in loans to taxi mogul Evgeny Freidman (defendant) once Uber's entry crashed the medallions' value, Citibank sought to collect on Freidman's personal guarantees by attaching his real estate; Freidman responded by transferring essentially all his attachable assets into offshore trusts benefiting himself, his children, and his parents, while continuing to personally possess and control the real estate — the appointed trustees having done nothing with it six months later. Freidman testified this was merely estate planning for his children, a claim the court found unbelievable given its timing immediately after Citibank's collection efforts and his companies' bankruptcy filings.