by WorldTribune Staff, May 6, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

On April 15, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released his “Tax the Rich” video in which he announced a new NYC “pied-à-terre tax” to fund city services. The video was filmed outside billionaire hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin’s penthouse.

Critics called the video (see below) an attempt to stir up class warfare.

On Tuesday, Griffin, who said he watched the video three times, described Mamdani’s theatrics as going from “creepy” to “frightening” in light of suspect Luigi Mangione’s alleged 2025 murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the recent assassination attempt targeting President Donald Trump at last month’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Speaking with CNBC, Griffin remained mum on his commitment to New York City while confirming that he is set to expand his office footprint in Miami.

Griffin told CNBC host Sara Eisen at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference in Los Angeles that Mamdani’s video had forced his company to rethink its future in New York City.

Related: Cheap shot? $6 billion development in NYC may be canceled after Mamdani soak-the-rich hit on CEO, April 27. 2026

“What the mayor of New York has made clear to my partners, and principally my New York partners, is that we need to double down on our bet on Miami,” Griffin said.

“The CEO of United Healthcare was killed just a few blocks from my house, and anything that creates an agitation in the extremist on either side of the aisle is a frightening dynamic,” Griffin added.

Writing for The New York Sun on May 6, Daniel Edward Rosen noted: “The decision to go after Griffin, whose firms Citadel and Citadel Securities employ roughly 1,500 people at New York City, struck many as ill-advised and poorly timed.”

Last month, New York Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mamdani announced the new pied-à-terre tax on second homes in New York City valued at $5 million or more. Mamdani claimed the new tax will raise “at least $500 million directly for the city,” which he said would help fund free childcare and cleaner streets, among other services.

However, last week, the New York Comptroller’s office predicted the new luxury tax would generate between $340 million and $380 million in revenue, falling well short of Mamdani’s projections.

Griffin’s companies are the anchor tenants for a proposed commercial skyscraper at 350 Park Avenue that, when finished, would be the tallest-ever skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. However, since Mamdani’s video, Citadel has signaled that it is rethinking its commitment to the project, which the company expects to create about 6,000 construction jobs and 15,000 permanent roles at the company.

“What we do with 350 (Park Avenue) is still a point of discussion internally,” Griffin said Tuesday.

In 2022, Griffin moved Citadel’s headquarters out of Chicago over what he said at the time was the city’s “broken schools, bankrupt pensions, rising crime, a declining tax base, and public corruption.”

“When we moved from Chicago, there was a debate between New York and Miami. It’s unquestionably true that we made the right choice, I’ll leave it at that,” Griffin said Tuesday.

Citadel reportedly agreed to increase its existing office footprint in a planned tower at Miami, leading the building’s developers to scrap a hotel that had been planned as part of the project.

Mamdani has since softened his message about Griffin while slamming “a tax system that is fundamentally broken.”

“I want them to build businesses, to grow our economy, and to create good-paying jobs, and Ken Griffin has been a part of that. He’s an important employer and business leader in our city, and as I do with every New Yorker, I do want him to succeed,” Mamdani said.

Mamdani’s director of video, Olivia Becker, posted on X that the video attacking Griffin was the handle’s “most viewed video of all time.”

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  ‘Creepy’ Mamdani video and assassination culture inspire CEO to expand Miami footprint, WorldTribune.com