Ultimately messing around with the order so some guys get more fares is a pretty petty crime for the suggestive "Russian national" headline it is given.
It's normal for the AG's press releases to contain "X National" when the subjects of investigation are foreign nationals. Compare, for example, this recent press release about a Malaysian National[1].
Tens of millions of people fly into JFK a year; millions leave the airport by cab (thanks to miserable public transport options near the airport). The current flat rate into Manhattan for yellowcabs is $52, and it's even more for other boroughs due to non-fixed metering (my part of Brooklyn is around $70). There's a lot of money floating around there!
Tell me your indictment is a bunch of lies without telling me your indictment is a bunch of lies. "Russian hackers did it!" is getting really old, when it's obvious now that Russia couldn't hack its way out of a wet paper bag.
