By Nell Mackenzie
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) – Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of the hedge fund and market trading firm Citadel, said on Tuesday he will meet with New York State Governor Kathy Hochul on Thursday.
Earlier this month Kathy Hochul proposed a new tax on second homes worth over $5 million that was backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The so-called pied-à-terre tax is aimed at supporting Mamdani’s efforts to close New York City’s budget gap.
Miami-based hedge fund Citadel has objected to Mamdani’s attempt to use Griffin’s name in his push to tax individuals from outside the state who own New York City residences.
“I think the willingness of a mayor of New York to make this a policy debate a personal attack, just demonstrated a profound lack of judgment,” Griffin said during a Norges Bank Investment Management conference in Oslo.
The chief of the $67 billion hedge fund added that he would meet with Hochul to talk about the future direction of New York.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, last week filmed a video titled, “Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich”, in front of Griffin’s penthouse.
“Is New York going to put their fiscal house in order and run itself from a position of strong government that’s pro-business? Why do Americans think we can do socialism? We have none of that in our DNA,” Griffin said.
Citadel’s principals and team members have paid nearly $2.3 billion in city and state taxes over the past five years, Citadel Chief Operating Officer Gerald Beeson said in an internal memo seen by Reuters last week.
Mamdani has generally faced resistance from Hochul, during a year in which she plans to run for re-election.
But in this case, the governor said in a statement on her official website, “If you can afford a $5 million second home that sits empty most of the year, you can afford to contribute like every other New Yorker.”
(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Chizu Nomiyama)
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