Billionaire landlord Ken Griffin has urged New York City Mayor Eric Adams to fix crime in the Big Apple after 2022 saw a surge in major offenses, a report by The New York Post said Saturday.
Griffin participated in a closed-door roundtable event to discuss how public safety plays a role in a business-friendly environment along with 60 other business professionals like KKR & Co. co-founder Henry Kravis and Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf.
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Partnership for New York CEO Kathryn Wylde reportedly attended the summit held at Hudson Yards and described the meeting as “upbeat” despite the serious topics discussed.
“[Griffin] said, if you can’t get a hold of crime, you’ll see an exodus,” Wylde told the Post in reference to the 23 percent rise in crime in 2022 from the previous year.
Wade told the publication that Griffin, CEO of Citadel, expressed his confidence in Adams’ ability to lower crime and avoid business closures seen in Chicago as a result to the city’s high crime rates.
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Griffin, who said he would be moving his hedge fund from Chicago to Miami in June last year, sold another one of his Chicago homes Saturday for a whopping $11.2 million according to Chicago Business.
The New York City mayor was reportedly receptive to Griffin’s concerns and laid out steps the city is already taking to combat crime.
“It was the most upbeat conversation I’ve heard about New York in a long time,” Wylde told the publication. “The tone of this meeting was, let’s move away from the cynicism of the pandemic and focus on what we have to be optimistic about.”
Griffin announced last month that he plans to build a 1.7 million square foot “trophy office tower” in Midtown which would serve as Citadel’s hub in the city.
Fox News Digital could not immediately reach Griffin or Adams for comment.