Zohran Mamdani has responded to Ken Griffin's comments after the New York City mayor used the billionaire's home in a video promoting his new tax on pricey second homes.
Last week, Griffin's company, Citadel LLC, put out a statement to its employees slamming the use of the CEO's $238 million home in Mamdani's video explaining his new pied-à-terre tax. The new tax plans to "levy an annual surcharge on one to three family homes, condominiums and co-ops valued above $5 million when owners have a separate primary residence outside of New York City," the city says.
“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,” Gerald Beeson, Citadel's COO said, as reported by Wall Street Journal.
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In the email sent to employees, Beeson also hinted at the prospect of Citadel not going through with a multi-billion dollar project in the city.
Mamdani now says he's open to speaking with Griffin. Here's what to know about the ongoing back-and-forth.
Ken Griffin and Citadel's statement
Griffin is noted as one of the richest people in the world, with a net worth of over $50 billion, according to Forbes. He bought his penthouse, at 220 Central Park South, in 2019 for around $238 million, WSJ reported at the time, and it set the record for the most-expensive home ever sold in the U.S.
Beeson said in the letter that "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" by using Griffin as the subject in the video.
"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,” Beeson said.
“The project — if we move forward — will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending.”
Griffin also spoke out against the video during a conference, saying that "the willingness of a mayor of New York to make this a policy debate a personal attack, just demonstrated a profound lack of judgment," Reuters reported.
"Is New York going to put their fiscal house in order and run itself from a position of strong government that's pro-business? Why do Americans think we can do socialism? We have none of that in our DNA."
Mamdani's response to Griffin
In a separate press conference on deed theft, the mayor addressed the Griffin controversy, saying that "we all want this city to succeed."
"As mayor, I will continue to work with business leaders, including Mr. Griffin, as partners in building a city that continues to be the economic engine not just of this state, but also of this country," he said to a reporter's question.
"And none of that negates the fact that we have a tax system that is fundamentally broken and one that is part of the reason why we live in both the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and also a city where one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty."
Mamdani struck a similar chord when Trump attacked his new rich tax earlier this month.
"Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! It has no chance! The United States of America should not contribute to its failure," Trump wrote on Truth Social after the announcement. In response to the post, Mamdani said that "the president and I both want the city to succeed. This is how you do it."
At the press conference, Mamdani said that he would be "happy to speak" with Griffin.
"The reason for that is that no matter any disagreement around fiscal policy and whether or not the state should tax secondary homes of non-resident New Yorkers that are worth more than $5 million, we all believe in the same city."
Griffin is now expected to meet with Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Mamdani responds after billionaire slams NYC mayor's rich tax video
