{"id":363312,"date":"2026-10-03T00:10:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T00:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363312\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T00:10:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T00:10:47","slug":"hundreds-of-messages-between-mamdani-and-rent-board-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/363312\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds of messages between Mamdani and rent board released"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of texts and emails between top officials in Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration and the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board were released as part of a lawsuit alleging <\/a>unlawful collusion<\/a> between the independent body and City Hall.<\/p>\n

The two sides communicated over 100 times, the messages show, but appear to lack an obvious clear smoking gun, and largely depict routine conversations on scheduling and exchanges of city-generated data, according to insiders and reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contacts between City Hall and the RGB were not only substantial, but also shocking, in that they show coordination and collaboration throughout the RGB\u2019s process,\u201d plaintiff attorney Randy Mastro claimed in a letter to the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Landlords fighting Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s promised rent freeze<\/a> say they\u2019ve caught the city red handed colluding to make a \u201csham\u201d out of the supposedly independent board Stephen Yang for NY Post<\/p>\n

His letter cites as evidence of \u201cstaggering\u201d coordination the fact that City Hall officials and RGB members communicated \u201cmore than 100 times,\u201d as well as the sharing of a \u201cnovel draft\u201d of a presentation of cost of living, which he claimed \u201chas never been used before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of the messages revolve around sharing such city-produced data with the RGB, though past board members have said that is routine under past mayoral administrations, according to reports.<\/p>\n

Massimo D\u2019Angelo, a real estate attorney who represents private landlords, said the documents show a pattern of \u201cclose, private coordination\u201d between City Hall and the RGB, but some of the messages were \u201cweaker than [Mastro\u2019s] letter makes it sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a \u201cdeeper dive may reveal the smoking gun,\u201d D\u2019Angelo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contacts between City Hall and the RGB were not only substantial, but also shocking, in that they show coordination and collaboration throughout the RGB\u2019s process,\u201d attorney Randy Mastro claimed in a letter to the court.\u00a0 EMILY MARTINKA<\/p>\n

The city is already trying to ward off the second stage of discovery \u2014 a full forensic imaging of phones and computers \u2014 claiming they\u2019ve already produced everything and the forensic scan would be invasive and unnecessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That scan could include any possible use of the private messaging app, Signal.<\/p>\n

City Hall was already caught red handed<\/a> using the encrypted app for group chats with a network of influencers who post positive coverage of the mayor.<\/p>\n

The rent freeze for one and two-year leases on rent stabilized units went into effect Thursday. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post<\/p>\n

No Signal messages have been produced so far, court records show. City Hall repeatedly refused to answer questions about the potential use of signal.<\/p>\n

Manhattan Judge Brendan Lantry last week ordered the city to turn over the communications released Thursday between 13 City Hall officials, the mayor and the RGB \u2014 on the same day the new rent freeze for one and two-year leases went into effect.<\/p>\n

Chantella Mitchell, chair of the Rent Guidelines Board, center, speaks prior to a vote by the Rent Guidelines Board in New York, Thursday, June 25, 2026. New York City\u2019s Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents for roughly one million stabilized apartments, handing Mayor Zohran Mamdani a major political victory. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p>\n

The suit was originally filed this summer in Staten Island by landlords seeking to overturn the rent freeze on rent stabilized units approved by the RGB in a fulfillment of one of Mamdani\u2019s major campaign promises. A judge later ruled that Mastro should have filed it in Manhattan courts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of texts and emails between top officials in Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration and the city\u2019s Rent Guidelines…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[302,2954,4327,57,9,56,63,65,64,564,566,58,82],"class_list":["post-363312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-city-hall","tag-landlords","tag-manhattan-supreme-court","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-rent","tag-rent-stabilization","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363312","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=363312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}