New York Metropolis Mayor Mayor Zohran Mamdani spotlighted Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse in a viral video asserting a brand new pied-à-terre tax. (Credit score: Norges Financial institution Funding Administration)
New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani constructed his political agenda by taking purpose at billionaires. Now he’s praising one for backing the police.
Final week, Mamdani publicly thanked Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin for supporting police funding, a second that flew considerably underneath the radar however supplied a glimpse right into a extra difficult dynamic between the hedge fund king and the socialist mayor.
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New York Metropolis Mayor Zohran Mamdani has beforehand criticized billionaires, together with Ken Griffin, whom he not too long ago thanked for supporting police. (Spencer Platt/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
“I need to thank everybody who’s right here with us within the Corridor of Heroes at this time, with particular due to Police Commissioner [Jessica] Tisch and NYPD management,” Mamdani stated at One Police Plaza, talking earlier than division brass and households of slain officers.
“I additionally need to thank Ken Griffin for funding a memorial wall that can open later this 12 months,” he added.
The acknowledgment got here simply days after a public spat between the 2, sparked by Mamdani’s viral April 15 video selling a proposed tax on second houses value greater than $5 million. Filmed exterior Griffin’s 24,000-square-foot Central Park South penthouse—bought for a report $238 million—the video singled out Griffin by identify.
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Citadel CEO Ken Griffin bought the penthouse property at 220 Central Park South in 2019 for roughly $238 million. (Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg/Getty Photographs / Getty Photographs)
“That is an annual price on luxurious properties value greater than $5 million, whose house owners don’t stay full-time within the metropolis. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin purchased for $238 million,” Mamdani stated within the clip.
Griffin sharply criticized the transfer, calling it a “private assault” and a “profound lack of judgment” throughout remarks on the Norges Financial institution Funding Administration 2026 Funding Convention in Oslo, the place he questioned what he described because the “demonizing” of enterprise leaders.
The conflict underscores a widening divide between progressive ambitions for the town and the monetary sector that has lengthy powered its financial system.
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Following the episode, Griffin, who primarily resides in Florida, signaled he may rethink a significant Midtown Manhattan improvement, elevating the stakes of the conflict.
For Griffin, the donation matches a broader sample of backing legislation enforcement efforts in main cities; for Mamdani, the acknowledgment might sign a willingness to shore up funding for public security.
