![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/a0da0557d1e8cfcb43a3be1997ad5015a1-ken-griffin.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.
\n Photo: Krisztian Bocsi\/Bloomberg\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani <\/a>highlighted a new proposal, introduced by Governor Kathy Hochul<\/a>, that would charge a yearly surcharge on pricey second residences in the city that remain largely unoccupied by their wealthy, out-of-town owners.<\/p>\n In a Tax Day\u2013themed video<\/a>, the mayor touted the proposed pied-\u00e0-terre levy as a fulfillment of his campaign promise to tax the rich and name-checked one owner in particular: Citadel CEO Ken Griffin. \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 Mamdani said as he gestured toward 220 Central Park South, which sits along 57th Street\u2019s \u201cBillionaires Row.\u201d In 2019, Griffin purchased a massive 24,000-square-foot penthouse apartment<\/a> in the building, paying the most for a home or apartment in American history. Per Forbes<\/a>, he is worth $50.7 billion.<\/p>\n Perhaps unsurprisingly, Griffin seems none too happy about being name-checked as a symbol of capitalistic greed. The Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported on Thursday that he was \u201cappalled\u201d by Mamdani\u2019s video. Though Griffin hasn\u2019t yet weighed in directly, Citadel chief operating officer Gerald Beeson criticized the mayor in an internal email to employees. In the message, Besson said that Griffin helped to direct $650 million in donations to city charities and that Citadel\u2019s \u201cprincipals and team members (including nonresidents) have paid nearly $2.3 billion dollars in city and state taxes.\u201d<\/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 Beeson said. \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 Besson went even further, raising the possibility that Citadel could decide to halt its planned construction of a 62-story midtown office tower<\/a>. He said the redevelopment of 350 Park Avenue would result in \u201c6,000 highly paid construction jobs\u201d and help to create more than 15,000 permanent jobs in the business district.<\/p>\n \u201cThe project \u2014 if we move forward \u2014 will entail more than $6 billion dollars of spending,\u201d Besson wrote.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t the first time Griffin has taken issue with a deep-blue city\u2019s taxation policies. In 2022, he moved Citadel and his trading firm, Citadel Securities, from Chicago to a new headquarters in Miami after public clashes with Governor J.B. Pritzker<\/a> over a proposed shift in the state\u2019s income tax<\/a> and concerns about crime<\/a>. According to a 2024 report from Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/a>, Griffin had donated more than $650 million to various causes throughout Chicago. His philanthropy has since shifted to Florida, where he has distributed more than $300 million since moving.<\/p>\n In his video, Mamdani said the yearly surcharge, which city and state officials project could generate at least $500 million in revenue toward closing the city\u2019s budget gap, is specifically targeted at the ultrawealthy, or \u201cthose that store their wealth in New York City real estate but who don\u2019t actually live here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut even so, they\u2019re able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world,\u201d Mamdani said.<\/p>\n The mayor added that funds raised by the pied-\u00e0-terre tax will help to fund cleaner city streets and safer neighborhoods as well as campaign proposals like free child care. \u201cAs mayor, I believe everyone has a role to play in contributing to our city. And some a little bit more than others,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Intelligencer\u00a0Newsletter<\/p>\n Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n