Tag: new york

Explosive report claims a network of charities connected to George Soros funneled $40M to support Zohran Mamdani’s political rise in tax-dodging scheme

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is facing explosive allegations that it benefited from tens of millions of dollars in donations funneled from George Soros-linked charities as part of an elaborate scheme that may have violated federal tax laws. 

The 34-year-old State Assemblyman’s team has always claimed that he rose from obscurity to become New York City‘s mayoral front-runner thanks to an organic, grassroots movement involving many small donations and hundreds of young people with backpacks canvassing on his behalf.

But the Daily Mail can reveal that that narrative is now being called into question  according to a report from a watchdog website.

The findings, from conservative investigative site White Collar Fraud, alleged that a network of tax-exempt organizations connected to billionaire financier Soros shrewdly coordinated political and ground operations to support Mamdani in a scheme that involved laundering more than $40million in charitable donations through nonprofits and redirecting them into political activity.

Soros’s group disputes the report’s findings of improprieties, saying it is ‘riddled with inaccuracies, false assumptions and misinformation’.

‘The math isn’t the only thing that doesn’t add up,’ a spokesman for the Open Society Foundation – that was founded by Soros and is now headed by his 40-year-old son Alex, told the Daily Mail. 

‘The grants it cited – many of which we were earmarked for specific projects and causes elsewhere around the country as we have disclosed – were made years before the mayoral race even began.’ 

But White Collar Fraud investigator Sam Antar told the Daily Mail Soros-affiliated entities may have violated federal tax laws. Antar has filed 11 whistleblower complaints with the Internal Revenue Service as a result of his investigation.

Keep reading

Zohran Mamdani Says He Will Defend Illegal Aliens’ Right to Live in NYC

Democrat mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani says he will defend the rights of illegal aliens to live in New York City against President Donald Trump.

During a press conference this week, Mamdani, an immigrant from Uganda, was asked about the potential of Trump having Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conduct raids across New York City as well as possibly sending in the National Guard.

In response, Mamdani attacked Mayor Eric Adams (D) and said he would fight for the city’s sanctuary policy that bans the New York City Police Department (NYPD) from working with ICE agents to arrest and detain even the most violent illegal aliens.

“I will not be the mayor that we have today who went on national television and opened the door to civil immigration enforcement,” Mamdani said. “I will be the mayor that stands up for our sanctuary city policies, that stands up for every New Yorker’s right to live in this city, and the mayor who will hold everyone accountable to the law, no matter who they are.”

Months ago, Mamdani suggested that his administration would go even further than the city’s sanctuary policy, though he was unclear on the details.

“The Trump administration is waging war on the First Amendment and our constitutional rights as it continues to abduct New Yorkers from across our city,” Mamdani said. “Any effort to cooperate with these efforts is a moral stain on our city. We should strengthen our sanctuary city laws.”

Keep reading

Foreign Election Interference? UK Leftists Campaign For Mamdani In NYC Race

A member of the United Kingdom’s parliament announced Sunday that he was campaigning on behalf of socialist New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.

Independent Member of Parliament for Islington North Jeremy Corbyn posted on X that he was “hosting a phone bank” with the Democratic Socialists of America “to Get Out The Vote for” Mamdani.

“Let’s get Zohran over the finish line for a New York that’s affordable for all!” Corbyn posted on X.

The Federalist’s CEO and co-founder Sean Davis pointed out that Corbyn was engaging in “literal foreign election interference on behalf of a Ugandan Muslim who wants to ‘globalize the intifada’ in America’s largest city.”

Notably, Corbyn once decried President Donald Trump for allegedly interfering in Britain’s elections.

In a June 1, 2019, post, Corbyn posted to Twitter: “President Trump’s attempt to decide who’ll be Britain’s next PM is an entirely unacceptable interference in our democracy. The next PM should be chosen not by the US president … but by the British people in a general election.”

A second Corbyn post just a few months later said: “Donald Trump is trying to interfere in UK election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected.”

Perhaps Corbyn’s election interference is unsurprising. Corbyn, much like the Democratic Socialists of America and other far-left activists, sees himself as part of a globalist movement in which national borders are obstacles that must be erased in order to achieve a global socialist agenda. Corbyn’s phone banking makes that clear. And it makes sense: Mamdani himself sees elections, no matter how “local,” as just a battlefield in a global ideological struggle. It’s exactly why Mamdani refuses to condemn calls for globalizing the intifada.

Globalists like Corbyn and Mamdani see no difference between London and New York, or Gaza and Manhattan. These are merely different fronts of the same fight, which is why Corbyn has no problem interfering in our elections.

Keep reading

Obama Privately Endorses Communist Zohran Mamdani in Phone Call and Offers Him Political Support

Former President Barack Obama has privately endorsed the mayoral campaign of Zohran Mamdani, a communist, in New York City.

According to The New York Times, Obama called Mamdani for around half an hour, during which time he praised his campaign and offered him political support.

Their report states:

Former President Barack Obama called New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Saturday, praising his campaign and offering to be a “sounding board” into the future.

The private, roughly 30-minute phone call, which has not previously been reported, was described by two people who participated or were briefed immediately on what had been said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private conversation.

Mr. Obama said that he was invested in Mr. Mamdani’s success beyond the election on Tuesday. They talked about the challenges of staffing a new administration and building an apparatus capable of delivering on Mr. Mamdani’s agenda of affordability in the city, the people said.

The former president’s outreach on the eve of what has been a contentious election is notable, given how divided the Democratic establishment has been over Mr. Mamdani and the role that Mr. Obama still plays in the party.

Keep reading

Judge Delivers Blow to Letitia James in Mortgage Fraud Case

A federal judge on Friday denied Letitia James’ request to force federal prosecutors to turn over all of their communications with the media after it was reported that Lindsey Halligan was exchanging text messages with a Lawfare reporter.

A couple of weeks ago, US Attorney Lindsey Halligan exchanged Signal messages with Lawfare reporter Anna Bower.

It is not unusual for a prosecutor to communicate with the press.

Lindsey Halligan pushed back on Anna Bower’s reporting in her exchange.

“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” the first message to Anna Bower read. “You are reporting things that are simply not true. Thought you should have a heads up.”

Click here to see the screenshots of Halligan’s Signal exchange with Anna Bower.

Letitia James asked Judge Walker to force the DOJ to keep a log of all communications with the press.

The judge delivered a blow to Letitia James.

Judge Jamar Walker, a Biden appointee, said Letitia James did not demonstrate that it is necessary for the court to force the DOJ to track communications with the media.

The New York Post reported:

The judge overseeing Letitia James’ mortgage fraud case on Friday denied a motion from the New York attorney general attempting to force federal prosecutors to keep a log of all their communications with the media.

Defense attorney Abbe Lowell filed the motion last week, when James was arraigned on bank fraud and false statements charges, in response to a report that US Attorney Lindsey Halligan sent a flurry of encrypted Signal messages about the case to a reporter.

“[T]he defendant does not demonstrate that it is necessary for the Court to order the government to track communications with the media in any particular form,” US District Judge Jamar Walker wrote in his six-page order.

“The defendant’s request that the government be required to keep a communication log is DENIED,” the Biden-appointed judge ruled.

Walker noted that Halligan’s Signal chat with Lawfare senior editor Anna Bower earlier this month was “unusual” but he declined to offer an opinion “on whether they were improper in any sense, either legal or ethical.”

James was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia last month.

Keep reading

Nonprofit Executive Caught Instructing Illegal Alien to Vote in NYC Mayoral Election 

The O’Keefe Media Group on Friday released an undercover video of a nonprofit executive instructing an illegal alien to vote in the New York City Mayoral race.

La Jornada Executive Director Pedro Rodriguez told the OMG undercover journalist posing as an unregistered illegal to “vote for the guy that starts with ‘M’.”

Rodriguez instructed the ‘illegal migrant’ to vote for Mamdani, a Communist Muslim born in Uganda who is running against former Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.

Zohran Mamdani is a far-left radical who openly admits he will raise property taxes based on skin color – specifically, white people.

“Rodriguez acknowledges knowing the individual is “not registered” before advising him how to vote – a potential violation of federal and state election laws,” the O’Keefe Media Group said.

The O’Keefe Media Group noted that nonprofits are prohibited from participating in any political campaign.

According to New York AG Letitia James: “Charitable organizations, including houses of worship that receive a tax exemption pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), are prohibited from participating in any political campaign on behalf of a candidate for public office.”

This includes: “Making statements in support of, or in opposition to, a candidate or a political party, whether orally, recorded, or in writing, including by in-person distribution, mail, email, text, or posting on social media or the internet;”

Keep reading

INSANITY: Zohran Mamdani Plans to Tax Companies Even if They LEAVE New York City

One question that keeps coming up about Zohran Mamdani’s socialist fever dream for New York City, is how he is going to pay for all of the free stuff that he’s planning to give away.

This becomes especially complicated when you consider that some wealthy people and companies will flee the city if he becomes mayor.

Mamdani apparently has a plan for that. He is going to try to tax companies even if they leave the city. It’s not exactly clear how he plans to enforce this insane idea.

Townhall reports:

We suppose the silver lining of New York electing an avowed Democratic Socialist as mayor is that we’ll get to see how disastrous his socialist policies really are, and that’ll discourage the rest of the nation from voting for socialism. But we won’t pretend that learning that lesson will be hard, especially for the people of New York who didn’t vote for Mamdani.

In his latest tax-grab scheme, Zohran Mamdani vows to tax businesses that leave New York and, it seems, any company that merely does business in New York, even if they’re headquartered elsewhere.

“So the way that this tax works is it applies to any business doing business here. They could be located in Miami, but if they’re doing business in New York, it applies to them,” Mamdani said.

This policy proposal is insane. So insane, in fact, we don’t even know how to wrap our heads around it. That’s hundreds of thousands of businesses, including international ones.

In what world does any of this make sense?

Keep reading

Mamdani Leads as Election Day Approaches in High-Stakes NYC Mayoral Race

New York City voters will go to the polls on Nov. 4 to cast their ballots in a three-way mayoral race that could have far-reaching consequences for the city and beyond.

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party nominee who describes himself as a democratic socialist, is heavily favored to win. He faces former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent, and Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee known for wearing a red beret.

Previously, sitting New York City Mayor Eric Adams was also running for reelection as an independent, but he dropped out on Sept. 28 and backed Cuomo.

Cuomo has repeatedly called for Sliwa to back out of the race. Sliwa has rejected that demand.

Despite his rivals’ efforts to consolidate opposition to the self-described democratic socialist, polling shows that Mamdani is overwhelmingly favored to win the race in America’s largest metropolis.

Mamdani has led by double-digits in every poll of New York City voters taken since July. He has garnered about 45 percent of the vote in recent polls, compared to about 30 percent for Cuomo and roughly 15 percent for Sliwa.

Keep reading

3 Reasons Why Zohran Mamdani’s City-Run Grocery Stores Will Fail

New York City Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani says City Hall needs to get into the grocery business because New Yorkers are being “priced out” of private supermarkets. If elected, Mamdani says he’ll spend $60 million on opening one government-run grocery store in each of the five boroughs that would deliver healthier produce at lower prices. Here’s why that’s a terrible idea.

1. Mamdani-Marts Can’t Compete With Discount Grocery Chains

Mamdani says that New Yorkers should think of city-run grocery stores as a “public option” that would deliver cheaper food by saving on rent and taxes. And they wouldn’t need to make a profit.

Except profit margins for grocery stores are typically below 2 percent, and private grocers keep costs down by utilizing complex supply chains and economies of scale that Mamdani’s stores won’t have access to.

“The grocery business is really tough,” says Scott Lincicome, who is the vice president of general economics at the Cato Institute. Private grocery stores provide “a vast variety of fresh frozen produce and other goods that everybody wants all the time, which is actually really difficult to do, particularly at reasonably low prices.” In Kansas City, a government-run grocery store scheme lost nearly $900,000 just last year. 

Lincicome says that if New York politicians want to give their constituents access to cheaper groceries, they could allow Walmart in the Big Apple. But New York politicians have used zoning regulations to keep the nation’s largest and most affordable supermarket from opening a store anywhere in the five boroughs. 

“Walmart is the absolute leader in supply chain efficiencies,” Lincicome told Reason. It “does this via a truly global network of warehouses and trucks and airplanes and all of these amazing things that shave off fractions of a penny off of every transaction.” The idea that New York “could somehow try to replicate Walmart’s global supply chain and entire business model is just laughable.”

2. New York Has Fewer “Food Deserts” Than Any Other City 

Mamdani says his grocery stores will help address the problem of neighborhoods lacking easy access to fresh food. But Lincicome cites a recent study showing that “ranked the Big Apple the No. 1 U.S. metro area in terms of residents’ ‘equitable access’ to a local supermarket.”

“You can basically walk almost everywhere in New York City in 10 minutes and find a grocery store,” he told Reason.

Lincicome cites multiple studies (1, 2, 3) showing that new grocery stores don’t improve food access. But this is old news: In 2012, Reason covered three earlier studies that exploded the myth that adding neighborhood supermarkets improves the diets of their surrounding communities.

3. It’s a waste of money

Mamdani said that he is going to pay for his grocery stores by “redirecting” $140 million worth of city funding that is already being spent subsidizing corporate grocers. As the Washington Examiner’s Timothy Carney was the first to notice, that number is based on a misreading of a city website. The city subsidizes some private grocery stores at a cost of about $3.3 million per year.. As some Bronx residents told Fox News‘ Kennedy in a new video published by Reason, the city should focus instead on helping the homeless, dealing with “rats the size of cats,” and cleaning “all of the needles on the street.”

Direct assistance is a more cost-effective and less destructive way to support low-income households than government-run supermarkets, and it’s something the federal government already does in abundance. Through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, 1.79 million New Yorkers—20 percent of the city’s population—receive help purchasing groceries each month.

As one New Yorker told Kennedy in Reason‘s latest video, “you’re focusing on the wrong things, Mamdani.”

Keep reading

Zohran Mamdani Brandished Handgun in Music Video—Then Called To Ban Them

As the rapper formerly known as Young Cardamom, Zohran Mamdani donned fatigues and brandished a handgun in a music video for a song glorifying militant violence. As a politician, the socialist has called for a ban on “all guns” to remedy the “scourge of gun violence.”

The video for the 2016 song “Wabula Naawe” is “set in the Luwero Triangle in 1981 during the days leading up to the Ugandan Bush War,” our Jon Levine reports. It “opens with a spray of gunfire” before depicting “armed militants shooting firearms from the back of a truck—to the words ‘let’s get together and settle this thing once and forever.’ It later portrays a man being shot in the head at point-blank range as Mamdani raps lyrics like, ‘I’ll finish you like food on a plate,’ ‘You are about to run like a chicken,’ and, ‘You’ll pray for death.’”

“Mamdani has taken a more critical stance on firearms since entering politics,” writes Levine. As a state assemblyman, he called to “ban all guns” and voted for a bill placing restrictions on firearms marketing. He has since pledged to spearhead a “nationwide ban on assault rifles.”

Keep reading