NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani's financial disclosure filings filled with discrepancies
Mamdani, the frontrunner heading into November's general election, claimed in a recent filing to the city's Conflicts of Interest Board reporting his finances for last year that he has owned vacant land in Jinja, Uganda, valued at $100,000 to $250,000 since March 14, 2016, records show.
Mamdani, who earns $131,000 annually as a Queens-based state assemblyman, also noted owning interest in two stocks valued at a combined $5,000 to $55,000 – MiTec and PBC – and having a retirement plan worth another $1,000 to $5,000.
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3 Mamdani received his matching funds despite the apparent discrepancy in his financial disclosure forms.
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However, in annual financial disclosure statements for 2020 through 2024 filed with the state Legislative Ethics Commission, Mamdani, 33, said he took full ownership of the Uganda site four years earlier – in 2012.
He also didn't list any stocks, instead claiming the only the securities he owned were valued at less than $2,000 from a retirement plan with the social-justice organization Chhaya where he worked in 2019.
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The revelation that Mamdani's state filings contradict his city filings come while two of his top competitors, Mayor Eric Adams and ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have been denied millions of dollars in matching funds by the city's Campaign Finance Board after being flagged for various violations.
'Every time you scratch the surface with this guy, more red flags emerge,' said defense lawyer Jim Walden, who is running for mayor as an Independent.
'Here, the obvious concern is that he is understating his wealth. He should come clean. If he can't be honest, add that to the growing list of disqualifiers.'
A rep for the Campaign Finance Board declined comment.
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Lisa Partelow Reid, executive director of the state Legislative Ethics Commission, said elected officials who knowingly make false statements to the commission could face fines of up to $40,000. If amendments are needed 'the assumption' typically is 'an inadvertent error' occurred, she said.
3 Mayor Adams was not given matching funds for his reelection campaign.
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There are no records of Mamdani amending his filings.
Reid declined to discuss Mamdani repeating the same information on his stocks and land ownership in five straight annual state filings – but then providing different information in his COIB filing.
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3 Heavy security and phone jammers marked a recent three-day celebration at Mamdani's Ugandan compound.
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COIB Executive Director Carolyn Miller deferred questions about matching funds to the Campaign Finance Board but said 'filers regularly and routinely amend their annual disclosure reports to resolve discrepancies.'
Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic political consultant, questioned whether the state and city entities — which are designed to be independent and apolitical — are ignoring Mamdani's discrepancies because they're worried about being accused of Islamophobia.
'It's hypocritical at best,' he said.
Mamdani did not return messages.
Additional reporting by Gabrielle Fahmy
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