Griffin’s Citadel to swerve New York after mayor’s wealth tax campaign
Hedge fund juggernaut Citadel has diverted investment earmarked for New York to its Miami headquarters, founder Ken Griffin has said, after the city’s socialist mayor filmed a video promoting a new ‘pied a terre’ wealth tax outside the billionaire’s $285m penthouse.
Griffin told CNBC that because of mayor Zohran Mamdani’s social media clip, his $67bn (£49.2bn) fund – one of the largest in the world – had confirmed plans to add several hundred thousand feet of office space in its upcoming flagship office in Miami.
“The only decision that we’ve made with no regrets in the last few days is to expand the size of our office footprint in our new Miami headquarters,” he said, adding: “We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here with respect to his posting of that video.”
Griffin – who is one of the most recognised investors in the world – confirmed his hedge fund had already filed a permit with the city of Miami to expand the size of its planned mega-office in Florida, a 54-storey tower which broke ground earlier this year.
The decision followed a viral video produced by Zohran Mamdani in which the new far-left mayor of New York stood outside Griffin’s nine-figure apartment to announce the introduction of a new wealth tax on expensive second properties.
The insurgent democrat politician unveiled the pied a terre tax – an annual fee on second homes worth more than $5m – last month, to target “the richest of the rich… who store their wealth in New York City real estate”.
Financiers warn of New York exodus
The mayor’s office has said the tax will raise an estimated $500m, with Mamdani vowing to funnel proceeds from the levy to fund free childcare, policing and cleaner streets. He also billed the wealth crackdown as a first of its kind in New York’s history.
But the tax has already solicited an almighty backlash, with much of the objections centring around the mayor’s choice to film the clip outside Griffin’s apartment, and mention the tycoon by name and the value of his sprawling penthouse.
Griffin told CNBC that he had to watch the 2-minute clip twice because he couldn’t believe what he was watching the first time.
“What really upset me about the video was the fact it put me in harm’s way,” he said. “He seems to have forgotten that the chief executive of another American company was assassinated just blocks from where I live in New York, and to put any citizen in harm’s way is just inappropriate for one of our political leaders.”
The pied-a-terre tax has become a totemic pillar of Mamdanii’s ambitious push to redistribute wealth in New York, after he was elected on a landslide in November 2025. The drive has triggered a flurry of warnings from household name financiers that more progressive taxes would drive investment and wealth away from the global financial hub, to low-tax cities like Austin and Miami.
In his annual note to shareholders last month, JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon wrote that “no city – or company or country – has the divine right to success”. JP Morgan has already shrunk its headcount in Wall Street from 30,000 to 24,000.
Griffith echoed Domon’s remarks telling CNBC: “With one per cent of New York taxpayers paying 45 per cent of all the taxes, the city is in a precarious position if they make those that create value feel like they are best off moving their businesses and their lives to other jurisdictions.”
He added: “I don’t think any city should be so arrogant as to believe that it is immune to economic realities, and the hard, cold fact that when people drive success are told they’re not welcome or invited, that they will leave.”