{"id":359325,"date":"2026-09-29T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359325\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T00:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T00:00:10","slug":"mamdanis-influencer-army-plot-secret-attacks-on-nyc-ceos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/359325\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani\u2019s ‘influencer army’ plot secret attacks on NYC CEOs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s inner circle<\/a> is plotting a string of coordinated smears on top New York CEOs, deploying the hard-left Hizzoner\u2019s 200-strong \u201cinfluencer army\u201d<\/a> to bash Big Apple business leaders and drum up support for his tax-and-spend agenda, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Two sources briefed on the matter said Mamdani\u2019s closest City Hall advisers \u2014 known as the bullpen, a reference to the open-plan war room where the mayor and his top aides sit desk-to-desk to plan political hits \u2014 are looking to target senior executives with their taxpayer-funded troll farm just months after an ugly spat with Citadel founder Ken Griffin.<\/a><\/p>\n

A social media post by Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani is shown in this undated image. Mayor Mamdani\/X<\/p>\n

The insiders said the self-styled democratic socialists are zeroing in on top bosses at the Partnership for New York City, explicitly looking to capitalize on a leadership transition earlier this year at the city\u2019s premier business advocacy group.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Post revealed earlier this year that Hizzoner was hatching<\/a> a plot to roll out his tax-the-rich agenda in early fall to try to solidify a massive influx of money from the state at the start of 2027.<\/p>\n

And no one with deep pockets is safe. <\/p>\n

Sources said that the business-bashing left-wingers have already floated Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla as a possible target over drug prices and potentially sabotaging the $2 billion Hudson Yards expansion<\/a> led by Jeff Blau, the CEO of Related Companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are piecing together ideas on how to take them on,\u201d one person briefed on the bullpen\u2019s plans said. \u201cAnybody is fair game as long as you\u2019ve got money. There is a menu of options that is presented to the mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emilia Rowland, director of New Media and Cultural Communications at the NYC Office of the Mayor. The Mamdani administration has assembled an army of digital influencers to paint the young socialist in a favorable light. X\/EmiliaWinterRo<\/p>\n

Sources told The Post that Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla is one of the top targets of the City Hall digital hit squad. AP Photo\/Carolyn Kaster<\/p>\n

The primary strategy is to \u201cblindside\u201d the Partnership\u2019s new CEO, former Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop, who succeeded veteran corporate fixer Kathryn Wylde in January and whom they see as \u201cinexperienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want to punch Fulop in the face,\u201d a source told The Post. \u201cKathy Wylde knew the ropes. Fulop is new, so there\u2019s never been a better opportunity to go at CEOs. More attacks are planned against the executive board of the Partnership throughout the rest of this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operation, coordinated on Democratic Socialists of America Signal groups, aims to systematically tear down bigwigs as the mayor tries to close a fiscal gap that is projected to balloon to $13.2 billion by fiscal year 2028, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan fiscal monitor.<\/p>\n

Mamdani is desperately trying to raise extra revenue to close the black hole in New York\u2019s finances, including a 2-percentage-point hike for earners making over $1 million. <\/p>\n

\u201cDo they seriously think [JPMorgan Chase CEO] Jamie Dimon, who is responsible for overseeing $5 trillion in assets, is going to buckle because a few teenagers are pressuring him on TikTok?\u201d one Dem insider said of the pressure campaign.<\/p>\n

Newly minted Partnership for New York City CEO Steve Fulop is explicitly in the bullpen\u2019s crosshairs, with aides plotting to \u201cblindside\u201d the executive before he can mount a corporate defense. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The timing could prove to be a political headache for Gov. Kathy Hochul <\/a>as she fends off a gubernatorial challenge from Nassau County Republican Bruce Blakeman, who has come within single digits in one recent poll.<\/p>\n

Bourla donated to Hochul\u2019s first campaign for governor, and Pfizer\u2019s PAC has donated more than $36,000 to state Dem groups, according to state election records.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, Wall Street thinks Governor Hochul is the adult in the room, and working families in the city think she\u2019s the one who helped, but did not lead, in delivering childcare wins,\u201d said Ryan Adams, a managing director at the consulting firm Actum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat framing holds until somebody makes her choose,\u201d Adams said. \u201cNearly half of likely voters already say she\u2019s not in touch with average New Yorkers, according to Siena. A campaign about her donors gives that feeling a face.\u201d<\/p>\n

If approved in Albany, the combined city-and-state top marginal rate for New York City\u2019s wealthiest would hit 16.8%\u2014the highest in the nation. The mayor also wants to raise the top corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 11.5%.<\/p>\n

To get there, the administration is relying on a digital drive-by operation<\/a> is being spearheaded by one of the mayor\u2019s most senior aides: Office of Mass Engagement Director Tascha Van Auken and Emilia Rowland<\/a>, the city\u2019s Director of New Media and Cultural Communications.<\/p>\n

Citadel CEO Ken Griffin went viral after Mayor Mamdani targeted his $238 million Manhattan penthouse in a Tax Day video stunt. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Van Auken, a 50-year-old veteran DSA organizer, previously led Mamdani\u2019s massive campaign ground operation, while Rowland, a former Democratic National Committee press secretary, developed the mayor\u2019s social media strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have a plan to attack CEOs while they push for a slew of tax increases,\u201d one source said, adding that the mayor\u2019s viral Tax Day stunt outside Ken Griffin\u2019s $238 million Central Park South penthouse was a calculated hit. \u201cThe Griffin thing was completely pre-planned. It was a test to see how the Partnership would react.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Post has approached The Partnership of New York for comment.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued after publication of this story, Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said: \u201cThis is categorically false. The New York Post is publishing a complete lie.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pekec, however, refused to identify any specific inaccuracies in The Post\u2019s reporting.<\/p>\n

The previously undisclosed plans for a state-sponsored smear campaign are likely to send shivers down the spines of the city\u2019s business community.<\/p>\n

Following Mamdani\u2019s April video promoting a pied-\u00e0-terre tax, Griffin \u2014 whose firm also has an HQ in Miami \u2014 fired back, calling the maneuver a \u201ccreepy and weird\u201d personal attack that endangered his safety.<\/p>\n

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has blasted Mamdani\u2019s policies, warning that businesses would leave the city for friendlier tax regimes. REUTERS<\/p>\n

The hedge fund billionaire even suggested he might pull the plug on a planned $6 billion Park Avenue development. The hostile climate and looming tax hikes have sounded alarms at the highest levels of American finance.<\/p>\n

Dimon confronted Mamdani in a closed-door meeting in May. The CEO publicly warned afterward that he has seen mayors \u201cfail abysmally\u201d when \u201cideology blinds them to practical, realistic, real-world policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dimon has repeatedly cautioned that the administration\u2019s smash-and-grab tax strategy is driving a corporate exodus to lower-tax states like Florida and Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndividuals vote with their feet,\u201d the Wall Street veteran wrote in his annual shareholder letter this past April. \u201cYou can already see a fairly large exodus of people and jobs out of some states with high taxes and high expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s inner circle is plotting a string of coordinated smears on top New York CEOs, deploying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359326,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,26338,302,68,4208,2375,18649,1092,57,9,24,55,54,56,25011,3417,82],"class_list":["post-359325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-business","tag-ceos","tag-city-hall","tag-exclusive","tag-hudson-yards","tag-jamie-dimon","tag-ken-griffin","tag-mayor","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-steven-fulop","tag-wall-street","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359325","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=359325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}