NYC pedicab driver pleads guilty to bribing city inspector for licensed plates, officials say

A New York City pedicab driver has pleaded guilty for attempting to bribe his way into getting the proper registration plates outside of the traditional lottery system, the city Department of Investigation said on Wednesday.

Officials said Brooklyn resident Shokhru Alimov, 41, admitted to a felony bribery charge as part of a plea deal that could lead to a five-year probationary sentence. He also surrendered his pedicab driver and business licenses and forfeited the $7,500 he intended to use to bribe a city inspector, according to DOI.

Alimov was arrested in June 2023 after he attempted to offer $7,500 in exchange for 15 pedicab registration plates, officials said. They added that he intended to offer an additional $7,500 to renew the plates and more money for other registration plates in the future.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement that Alimov's offers were "outside of the official process" for registering pedicabs, which entails a lottery for plates or buying plates from other licensees with the approval of the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Bragg added, “His actions undermined the licensing process that exists to keep New Yorkers and tourists safe.”

The guilty plea comes more than a year after Alimov originally approached a city inspector in Central Park and offered to pay $60,000 for help obtaining 34 pedicab registration plates, according to DOI. The inspector reported the incident and met with Alimov a month later with an undercover investigator, officials said.

"As our city's tourism industry rebuilds, it's vital that visitors are protected, which is why we don't tolerate anyone who tries to skirt the law," Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga said in an emailed statement. "We couldn't be prouder of our enforcement and licensing teams for their work here and thank the Department of Investigation and the District Attorney's office for working with us to uphold the integrity of our licensing and inspections."

Alimov's attorney information was not immediately available.

In recent months, the city has begun cracking down on pedicab drivers, who are often found offering rides to tourists around popular local spots. There’s a finite amount of registration plates that get doled out each year to maintain the local cap of just 850 pedicabs in the city.

In December, the NYPD seized dozens of illegal pedicabs allegedly operated by drivers who did not have the proper registration to transport people on the tricked-out tricycles.

This story has been updated with comment from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.