{"id":412943,"date":"2025-11-29T13:46:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412943\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T13:46:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T13:46:15","slug":"exclusive-mamdani-linked-pac-allegedly-offered-hispanic-business-leader-job-seat-on-transition-team-if-he-raised-1m-in-3-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/412943\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Mamdani-linked PAC allegedly offered Hispanic business leader job, seat on transition team if he raised $1M in 3 days"},"content":{"rendered":"

A super PAC backing Zohran Mamdani allegedly offered a top Hispanic business leader a job as an NYC commissioner and a spot on the transition team \u2014 if he could raise up to $1 million in three days prior to the mayoral election<\/a>, sources told The Post.<\/p>\n

Frank Garcia, chairman of the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, claimed he got the stunning \u201cpay-to-play offer\u201d from Irfan Verjee<\/a> on Oct. 17 \u2014 three weeks before the election Mamdani won decisively.<\/p>\n

Verjee, the CEO for the renewable energy firm Shomax Energy, sits on the business advisory council<\/a> for OneNYC, a political action committee that raised $508,100 to buy ads backing the socialist pol\u2019s mayoral bid.<\/p>\n

Garcia and a third person at the meeting \u2014 who asked to remain anonymous \u2014 said Garcia shot down Verjee\u2019s request three separate times over coffee at 5 Acres Restaurant in Rockefeller Center.<\/p>\n

Frank Garcia, chairman of the New York State Coalition of Hispanic Chambers of Commerce, alleges that a boss for a Zohran Mamdani-linked super PAC illegally offered him a NYC commissioner job and a seat on one of the mayor-elect\u2019s transition committees if he could raise $500,000 to $1 million within three days. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

\u201cI yelled out, \u2018Absolutely not! I am not going to \u2018pay to play!\u2019\u201d Garcia, 56, recalled during an interview Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were talking over each other. The Puerto Rican in me got excited because I\u2019m not going to go to jail for anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia claimed he was tapped for the meeting because of his success bringing down food costs for minority-owned supermarkets and bodegas through a \u201cbuying group\u201d he created that purchases in bulk \u2014 and his concerns over Mamdani\u2019s \u201cSoviet-style\u201d plan to\u00a0bring city-owned-and-operated grocery stores<\/a>\u00a0to the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

Verjee allegedly at first asked Garcia if he was interested in being the city\u2019s next commissioner of small business services, but Garcia said he didn\u2019t want the\u00a0$227,786-a-year\u00a0job or any other job in a future Mamdani administration.<\/p>\n

Instead, Garcia said he\u2019d prefer being involved in picking the next commissioner as part of Mamdani\u2019s transition team and helping revise policies for bodegas and supermarkets to be certified as \u201cminority-owned businesses\u201d to qualify for benefits that come with it.<\/p>\n

Verjee then \u201casked me if I\u2019d be interested in chairing the transition team\u2019s Committee [on Small Businesses and Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises], and I said if it\u2019s going to help me help small businesses I am willing to do it,\u201d Garcia exclusively told The Post.<\/p>\n

Irfan Verjee sits on the business advisory council for OneNYC, a super PAC that raised $508,100 to buy ads backing the socialist pol\u2019s mayoral bid. Irfan Verjee\/ Linkedin<\/p>\n

Garcia was initially \u201cled to believe\u201d by Verjee that he\u2019d be part of the committee if he endorsed Mamdani \u2013 which the business leader said he planned to do anyway.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the sitdown, Verjee asked \u201chow much money\u201d Garcia could raise, Garcia claimed.<\/p>\n

Garcia said he reminded Verjee that it is illegal for nonprofits like his chamber group to fundraise for political campaigns \u2014 and added he is the process of stepping down as chairman to run a proposed super PAC that will raise cash to boost minority businesses.<\/p>\n

The future PAC could potentially raise $500,000 to a $1 million in a month, he told Verjee.<\/p>\n

Verjee allegedly insisted he needed the money within three days in exchange \u201cfor a seat at the table\u201d to help decide future policy in a Mamdani administration, according to Garcia and the witness.<\/p>\n

NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on Monday appointed more than 400 supporters to 17 transition committees that will help him select leaders within his administration. Kyle Mazza \u2013 CNP\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Verjee didn\u2019t vocalize the sum, the two recalled, but given the context of the conversation they understood his demand to mean $500,000 to $1 million in three days.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked him three times to clarify because I couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d said Garcia. \u201cI was in shock. I\u2019ve never had anyone working with a campaign approach me that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours after the meeting, Verjee sent the third attendee, a business leader representing the Asian community, a text asking if she could help broker peace with Garcia, adding it \u201cwill benefit all of us\u201d if Mamdani becomes mayor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely need your help as I don\u2019t want to deal with a street hustler,\u201d added Verjee, according to the text viewed by The Post.<\/p>\n

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Garcia was so enraged over the slur that he wrote a Nov. 13 letter to Mamdani outlining his \u201cshock\u201d over it \u2014 and what he called the \u201cpay-to-play offer\u201d Verjee made.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis statement is not only deeply offensive to me personally but also to the thousands of Hispanic and minority entrepreneurs I represent,\u201d wrote Garcia.<\/p>\n

He also told Mamdani the incident \u201craises serious concerns about the sincerity of your administration\u2019s commitment to inclusion and fairness\u201d and demanded a private meeting within two weeks with the future mayor. <\/p>\n

Garcia was so enraged over Verjee calling him a \u201cstreet hustler\u201d that he wrote a Nov. 13 letter to Mamdani outlining his \u201cshock\u201d over it \u2014 and the \u201cpay-to-play offer\u201d Verjee made. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n

Garcia decided to go public with his allegations after Mamdani failed to respond.<\/p>\n

Campaign finance laws bar a candidate\u2019s campaign from coordinating with super PACs or other outside \u201cindependent expenditure\u201d groups supporting that candidate. <\/p>\n

However, leaders of such fundraising machines can be part of transition teams if their favored candidate wins.<\/p>\n

OneNYC\u2019s head honcho Yasser Salem was among the 400-plus, far-left Mamdani supporters appointed Monday to the mayor-elect\u2019s 17 \u201ctransition committees.\u201d<\/a> Salem, a partner for the private investment group Hira Ventures, sits on the powerful Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Development.<\/p>\n

Verjee was not appointed to any of the transition committees. He also was never affiliated with Mamdani\u2019s campaign \u2014 just the super PAC.<\/p>\n

Verjee and Salem did not return messages. <\/p>\n

Monica Klein, a spokesperson for Mamdani\u2019s transition team, said it \u201cis not affiliated with or represented by anyone named Irfan Verjee \u2014 and any suggestion otherwise is completely false.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone making such a claim stands in direct opposition to our commitment to transparency and ending corruption in government,\u201d Klein said.<\/p>\n

OneNYC wasn\u2019t the only super PAC that supported Mamdani\u2019s mayoral run.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers for Lower Costs raised more than $3 million, predominately from deep-pocketed, out-of-state donors,<\/a> records show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A super PAC backing Zohran Mamdani allegedly offered a top Hispanic business leader a job as an NYC…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":412944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,18057,27383,5248,405,403,5226,5225,15418,5228,5227,5341,57425,43434,80,9207,92451,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969,5301],"class_list":{"0":"post-412943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-bribery","10":"tag-hispanics","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-nonprofits","17":"tag-ny","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-nyc-mayoral-election-2025","20":"tag-pac","21":"tag-political-action-committees","22":"tag-politics","23":"tag-small-business","24":"tag-super-pacs","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-us-news","31":"tag-usa","32":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115633297011880170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}