Billionaire Ken Griffin announced plans to leave New York City after Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani filmed a tax announcement directly outside Griffin’s luxury penthouse, calling him out by name and disclosing what he paid for his apartment.
Mayor Films Outside Billionaire’s Home
On April 15, Mamdani posted a video announcing a luxury second home tax while standing outside the building housing Griffin’s penthouse. The mayor identified the Citadel founder by name and revealed his purchase price. Griffin called the video creepy and weird at the Milken Global Conference on Tuesday, comparing it to someone knocking on his window. The billionaire watched the video twice, saying it escalated from creepy to frightening.
“This has gotten frightening. The CEO of United Health was killed a few blocks from my house,” Griffin
Griffin referenced the recent murder of United Healthcare’s CEO just blocks from his residence. He expressed concern that Mamdani’s video could agitate extremists and create dangerous situations. The hedge fund manager compared his experience to President Trump surviving three assassination attempts, saying he could not imagine the psychological toll of such threats.
Griffin’s Massive Contributions Ignored
What Mamdani failed to mention was Griffin’s enormous generosity to New York City institutions. Griffin and David Geffen donated 400 million dollars to Memorial Sloan Kettering in 2023, the largest single donation the cancer center ever received. He has given 40 million dollars to the Museum of Modern Art, 40 million dollars to the Museum of Natural History, and 15 million dollars to the Robin Hood Foundation. His total gifts to city institutions reach approximately 600 million dollars.
Jobs and Construction at Risk
Griffin’s companies, Citadel and Citadel Securities, employ approximately 5,000 people in New York. He is currently building Midtown’s tallest skyscraper on Park Avenue. The project represents significant economic investment and job creation for the city. Griffin has donated more than 2.5 billion dollars to education, opportunity, and health sciences initiatives nationwide. His potential departure threatens thousands of jobs and future economic development projects in a city already facing fiscal challenges and business flight concerns.
No jobs are threatened because these moguls move their private residences but leave their businesses – and employees – to continue paying taxes into the coffers of the cities run by these awful communists.
Tell that to CA when Musk moved out and built Space X in TX rather than CA.