After cheating thousands of cabbies by charging bogus “late fees,” a Long Island City taxi-medallion magnate likes to unwind — by playing polo with his pampered sons, records show.
Symon Garber’s Yellow Cab SLS Jet Management Corp. was hit with a $1.6 million fine Tuesday to settle charges it ripped off nearly 2,000 cabdrivers with “late fees” on the cars they leased.
The penalty doesn’t stop Garber from continuing to run cab companies in New York, Chicago and New Orleans.
To get a break from it all, Garber sponsors a polo team that in March won the prestigious Palm Beach Polo Cup.
“Taking time out of my busy schedule to play polo with my sons is worth it,” Garber, 48, told the Wall Street Journal last year, before running into trouble with the New York State Attorney General’s office.
“This is important in many ways for us as a family. There is an amazing energy between us on and off the field. It is something we all enjoy. I believe we are creating a legacy, a tradition that I hope will continue for a long time.”
Garber, who emigrated from Russia with his parents in 1977, plays polo with his three sons — Shaun Francis Garber, 21, who attends Florida Atlantic University; Jeffrey Lawrence Garber, 19, a freshman at Tulane in New Orleans; and Tyler, 15, a high school freshman in Manhattan.
A spokesman for the polo club did not return a call or an e-mail seeking comment.
A manager at Garber’s Long Island City taxi- management company said he “wouldn’t know anything about” Garber’s polo activities.
But the manager, who identified himself only as Kevin, said: “We’re just excited to move forward.”
A city Taxi & Limousine Commission spokesman said Garber’s company operates 275 medallions, managing lease-out cabs for the medallion’s owners. He also has a principal interest in more than 91 medallions.
Garber previously ran into trouble for turning junked cars into cabs in Chicago.