{"id":207660,"date":"2026-04-23T20:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207660\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T20:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T20:53:08","slug":"ken-griffins-citadel-claps-back-at-mamdanis-viral-penthouse-video-threatens-to-scrap-6b-nyc-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/207660\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Griffin’s Citadel claps back at Mamdani’s viral ‘penthouse’ video –threatens to scrap $6B NYC development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billionaire Ken Griffin is fuming after Mayor Zohran Mamdani spotlighted his Manhattan penthouse in a viral video announcing a new pied-\u00e0-terre tax <\/a>\u2013 and the hedge fund titan signaled he might even yank a $6 billion development project in the city.<\/p>\n

In a video last week, Mamdani beamed as he stood in front of the Citadel founder\u2019s 24,000-square-foot property at 220 Central Park South \u2013 which he scooped up for $238 million in 2019, the most expensive home sale in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve secured a pied-\u00e0-terre tax,\u201d the 34-year-old Democratic socialist rejoiced in the April 15 video<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Mamdani lambasted Ken Griffin\u2019s penthouse in a viral video announcing a new tax on luxury second homes. @NYCMayor \/X<\/p>\n

Griffin \u2014 whose net worth is estimated by Forbes at $50 billion \u2014 wasn\u2019t amused. A top exec at his hedge fund sent a companywide email Thursday afternoon blasting the mayor\u2019s comments \u2013 and hinting at a potential reversal on a massive Midtown project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d wrote Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson in an email obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project \u2013 if we move forward \u2013 will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s office did not immediately respond to The Post\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the email.<\/p>\n

During his campaign, Mamdani promised voters free childcare, free buses and city-owned grocery stores, pledging to ramp up taxes on the rich to support the pricey proposals \u2013 though such a move is up to state lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Ken Griffin\u2019s Citadel clapped back at the mayor\u2019s video, and hinted at a potential reversal on a major construction project. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Governor Kathy Hochul \u2013 who is up for re-election this year \u2013 flipped on her initial resistance last week to support the mayor\u2019s tax<\/a> on luxury second homes in New York City, raising concerns around a possible wealth exodus.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Hochul attempted to win back wealthy New Yorkers fleeing the state, saying it\u2019s important to be \u201csmart\u201d about taxes, \u201cnot just taxing for the sake of taxing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that Mayor Mamdani is not interested in that advice,\u201d Beeson wrote in the email, after quoting the governor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is shameful that he used Ken\u2019s name as the example of those who supposedly aren\u2019t carrying their fair share of the burdens associated with New York City\u2019s often costly and wasteful spending,\u201d the email continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The email added that over the past five years, Citadel principals and team members \u2013 including non-NYC residents \u2013 have paid nearly $2.3 billion dollars in city and state taxes, and Griffin has contributed $650 million in charitable donations supporting New York City residents.<\/p>\n

Mamdani stood in front of the Citadel founder\u2019s 24,000-square-foot property at 220 Central Park South. @NYCMayor \/X<\/p>\n

In 2022, Griffin announced he was moving Citadel headquarters from Chicago to Miami, Fla. \u2013 near his primary residence \u2013 after years of complaining about high taxes and rampant crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived in a failed city-state. I lived in Chicago for 30-some years. I had two colleagues who had bullets fly through their cars,\u201d Griffin told Fox News\u2019 Bret Baier in November 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had 25 bullet holes in the front of my building where I lived. You can\u2019t live in a city awash [with] violent crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman came to Griffin\u2019s defense on social media, warning that such attacks from Mamdani could push more business to Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be applauding Ken for spending $238 million in NYC, not attacking him for doing so,\u201d Ackman wrote in a post on X<\/a> last week, arguing that non-resident owners of NYC properties drive economic growth without acting as a drain on local resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cKen\u2019s company is a major employer in NYC of very high paying jobs which drive a considerable amount of our tax base. We wouldn\u2019t want him to move even more employees to Miami,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Ken Griffin\u2019s 220 Central Park South property. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

CNBC anchor Sara Eisen hit out<\/a> at Mamdani\u2019s video shortly after it was released \u2013 seemingly forewarning that it could have consequences from Griffin.<\/p>\n

She noted in a social media post<\/a> that Griffin \u201cemploys thousands of people in NYC\u201d and is \u201cinvesting billions more and creating thousands more jobs\u201d \u2013 adding that \u201cmaking him feel unwelcome and demonizing him seems risky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMeantime Miami is welcoming him and his firm, with the massive jobs, investment and tax revenue he\u2019s bringing,\u201d Eisen wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billionaire Ken Griffin is fuming after Mayor Zohran Mamdani spotlighted his Manhattan penthouse in a viral video announcing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,426,18649,9,24,56,63,65,64,2780,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-207660","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-kathy-hochul","10":"tag-ken-griffin","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-nyc-headlines","16":"tag-nyc-news","17":"tag-taxes","18":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}