Why Zohran Mamdani Picked a Fight With Ken Griffin

"As Mamdani was celebrating a potential agreement in Albany to tax luxury second homes, he cut a widely viewed video that called out Griffin, noting that his $238 million penthouse would be subject to the new tax. Mamdani, to underscore his point about the "fundamentally unfair" New York tax system, shot the clip outside Griffin's luxury skyscraper in Manhattan."

""What really upset me about the video was the fact that he put me in harm's way," he groused. "You know, he seems to have forgotten that the CEO of another American company was assassinated just blocks from where I live in New York. And to put any citizen in harm's way is just inappropriate for one of our political leaders.""

"As retribution, Griffin announced that his hedge fund, Citadel, would be expanding its Miami office, adding more jobs there that would have, in theory, gone to New York City. The $6 billion supertall office tower Griffin has been planning to build on Park Avenue as Citadel's new global headquarters is now in some degree of doubt."

"Would Mamdani have been better off not referencing Griffin at all in his video? Probably. Griffin is a notoriously fickle Wall Street oligarch who already ripped his firm, Citadel, out of Chicago citing political differences with that city's left-wing mayor. The departure was expensive for Chicago and Illinois, costing them a major corporate taxpayer and around 1,000 high-paying jobs."

Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrated a potential Albany agreement to tax luxury second homes and posted a widely viewed video criticizing Ken Griffin’s $238 million penthouse as subject to the new tax. Mamdani filmed the clip outside Griffin’s Manhattan skyscraper to emphasize the “fundamentally unfair” New York tax system. Griffin responded by saying the video put him in harm’s way and referenced an assassination of a CEO near his home. Griffin then announced Citadel would expand its Miami office and add jobs that might otherwise have gone to New York. Griffin’s planned $6 billion Park Avenue headquarters now faces uncertainty. The situation suggests that directly targeting a sensitive, politically connected billionaire can carry strategic costs for New York’s economy and employment.

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