Mamdani doubles down on anti-rich sentiment after Ken Griffin says he'll take Citadel empire to Miami

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded to Citadel CEO Ken Griffin after the billionaire suggested he would take his empire to Miami and ditch the Big Apple for good. Griffin's penthouse apartment was the subject of Mamdani's ire in a viral video he posted to social media in which he criticized Griffin for being rich and having the apartment at all.

When asked about the video, Griffin called the video "creepy and weird" and said that "Mamdani has made it very clear—New York does not welcome success." He also said Mamdani's video made him "double down" on plans to move to Miami. Mamdani ran his mayoral campaign on a plan to tax the rich and has been trying to get Governor Kathy Hochul to raise tax rates on top earners so he can fund his vast social services plans.

When asked about that, Mamdani said "I'll first just start by saying that I want all New Yorkers to succeed. That includes owners and entrepreneurs who create good paying jobs, who make the city the economic engine, not just of our state, but frankly, of our country. And that also includes Ken Griffin, who is a major employer in our city."

"That does not negate the fact, however," he went on, "that our tax system is fundamentally broken. It rewards extreme wealth while working people are pushed to the brink. It is a status quo that is unsustainable, that is unjust, and if we want the city to be one that working people can actually afford to live in then we need meaningful tax reform that includes the wealthiest New Yorkers paying their fair share."

The video from Mamdani was about taxing the rich, something of an obsession for the Ugandan-born mayor. On April 15, in celebration of Tax Day, something no Americans other than accounts celebrate, Mamdani declared that Griffin's penthouse would be subject to a pied-a-terre tax, or a tax on homes that were not the owners' primary residences.

In response, Griffin said he would take his pending $6 billion project to Florida. "We are about to commence the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue, creating 6,000 highly paid construction jobs and supporting the creation of more than 15,000 permanent jobs in mid-town New York. The project—if we move forward—will entail more than $6 billion of spending," Griffin's chief operating officer Gerlad Beeson said in an email to staff.

"It is shameful that he used Ken’s name as the example of those who supposedly aren’t carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City’s often costly and wasteful spending. In doing so, the mayor has once again manifested the ignorance and disdain of the elite political class towards those who have been consistently committed to building one of the greatest cities in the world," the email continued.

Griffin and other principles and team members at Citadel have paid $2.3 billion in city and state taxes over the past five years alone, said Beeson. "We have nearly 2,500 colleagues who have chosen to build their careers here. We understand that our hard work and success will, on occasion, make us targets for political rhetoric. But it should not diminish the pride we take in building firms that will continue to help New York City thrive for decades ahead," he said.

Griffin would join another 114,000 New Yorkers who fled the city ahead of Mamdani taking Gracie Mansion. Former Mayor Eric Adams, who lost to Mamdani, said he spoke with Griffin and urged him not to abandon New York.