{"id":505626,"date":"2026-01-10T07:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T07:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505626\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T07:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T07:23:14","slug":"wealthy-new-yorkers-and-celebs-potential-mamdani-tax-targets-helped-fund-his-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/505626\/","title":{"rendered":"Wealthy New Yorkers and celebs, potential Mamdani tax targets, helped fund his transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wealthy celebrities and investors \u2014 including many who could be targeted by Mayor Mamdani\u2019s proposed tax hikes on millionaires<\/a> \u2014 pumped tens of thousands of dollars into his transition coffers last month, new filings reviewed by the Daily News show.<\/p>\n

The December donors include members of the super-wealthy Pritzker and Soros dynasties as well as Hollywood\u00a0stars like Mark Ruffalo, Lupita Nyong\u2019O, Bill Camp and Morgan Spector.<\/p>\n

In total, the mayor raked in $1.2 million from over 6,000 donors for his transition fund last month\u00a0 \u2014 with half of that haul coming from just 200 individuals who gave Mamdani the maximum donation of $3,700, the new filings released late Thursday show.<\/p>\n

That came on top of the $2.6 million he pulled in over the course of November, making his transition committee one of the most well-funded in modern New York City memory.<\/p>\n

Many of the maxed-out donations that poured into Mamdani\u2019s transition coffers last month came from a string of star-studded fundraisers, including an evening gala in Lower Manhattan that featured celebrities like Julianne Moore, Ramy Youssef and filmmaker Mira Nair<\/a>, Mamdani\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n

The funds are being used to pay staff who have been involved in hiring for Mamdani\u2019s new administration and hosting his Jan. 1 inauguration festivities. Even with the high-dollar contributions, Mamdani had an average contribution size of $204, speaking to his wide net of lower-dollar, grassroots donors.<\/p>\n

Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, noted that ex-Mayor Adams\u2019 transition had 884 individual total contributors with an average donation of over $1,000, while former Mayor Blasio\u2019s funds came from 820 donors with an average donation of $2,392.<\/p>\n

The transition can keep incurring expenses through the end of January as the new mayor continues to build out his administration.<\/p>\n

Among those who pumped the max $3,700 amount into Mamdani\u2019s transition coffers were Nyong\u2019O, Ruffalo, Robert Soros, the investor son of billionaire progressive activist George Soros, Lynn Novick, a film producer who works with Ken Burns<\/a>, and Lyor Cohen, YouTube\u2019s global head of music and a longtime record executive. Adam Pritzker, a scion of the ultra-wealthy Pritzker family, also donated $3,700 in early December.<\/p>\n

Mike Luba, promoter at Forest Hills Stadium and a member of the mayor\u2019s inauguration committee, pitched in that maximum as well, as did the Partnership for New York City<\/a>, whose leader, Kathy Wylde, has been a key ally for the mayor in the business community.<\/p>\n

Many of the prominent transition contributors are high-earners who reside in New York City. That means they\u2019d likely see their tax bills increase if Mamdani makes good on his proposal \u2014 which requires state action \u2014 to jack up income taxes by 2% on residents who earn more than $1 million per year.<\/p>\n

Wylde, who has introduced Mamdani to many business leaders in the city since his election, said there\u2019s widespread distaste for his tax-the-rich agenda in local business communities. Still, she said that doesn\u2019t mean members of those communities close their pocketbooks for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campaign is over, Mamdani is the mayor and whether you agree with his politics or not, donors may want a relationship with the new mayor,\u201d she told The News on Friday.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s transition paid IDEKO Productions, an events agency, nearly $1 million for organizing his New Year\u2019s Day inauguration ceremony<\/a> on the steps of City Hall as well as an accompanying \u201cblock party\u201d that took place on surrounding blocks.<\/p>\n

To host his midnight swearing-in at the old City Hall station<\/a>, Mamdani\u2019s team paid $10,000 to the MTA, according to filings.<\/p>\n

Cat Almonte Da Costa, who was tapped last month to be a top official in Mamdani\u2019s City Hall but resigned a day after her appointment<\/a> amid outrage about her tweets about Jews, got paid $14,100 over two payments in December for what\u2019s listed as \u201cstaff\u201d salary. It\u2019s unclear what role she played on the transition, and Mamdani spokespeople didn\u2019t immediately return requests for comment.<\/p>\n

After the Almonte Da Costa scandal, Mamdani shelled out $25,000 to opposition research firm Tappan Research and $2,500 on the services of Elizabeth Pena for \u201cvetting consulting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wealthy celebrities and investors \u2014 including many who could be targeted by Mayor Mamdani\u2019s proposed tax hikes on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":505627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,13239,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,33959,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5301],"class_list":["post-505626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-city-hall","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-transition","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115869607711798486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505626","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=505626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}