Fact Check: Is Mamdani's family getting $3 million from a condemned building in Brooklyn?

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: According to a rumor circulating on social media platforms, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s family is benefiting from a condemned building in Brooklyn and is getting $3 million. The rumor has drawn the anger of online users who are criticizing the alleged development, while others have called for a fact-check into the claim.

Claim: Zohran Mamdani's family to get $3 million

The claim surfaced after a post on X alleging that Mamdani’s family is about to get $3 million from a condemned building in Brooklyn.

The post states that the Mayor’s brother, Ezekiel, bought the building at a steep discount, while his cousin, Lucas, received the no-bid contract to renovate it. 

The post ends by alleging that the arrangement amounts to a family enrichment scheme and that Mamdani has financially benefited from it, although the exact amount is not known.

The post has garnered tens of thousands of views as of this writing, with many appearing to believe the claim to be true, while others remained skeptical and called for verification of the claim.

Fact Check: False, no credible evidence to support the claim

However, there is no credible evidence to support the claim that Mamdani’s family financially benefited from a condemned building in the city; hence, the claim is rated as false.

Also, Mamdani is the single child of his parents, Mahmood Mamdani and Mira Nair; hence, the claim about his brother, Ezekiel, is baseless. There are also no reliable records of a cousin named Lucas who has received a no-bid contract to renovate it.

A search on Google for the claim yielded no reports by prominent news media outlets, except for the social media post that made the claim.

Moreover, the X account that posted the claim, though not explicitly a parody account, has made several such unverified and exaggerated claims for the sake of engagement.

Homeowners challenge Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax

The claim surfaced after homeowners in the city legally challenged Mamdani’s controversial pied-à-terre tax, arguing that it unlawfully shifted the burden of proving tax exemptions onto property owners rather than identifying eligible homes itself.  

According to the lawsuit, the Finance Department unlawfully published a list of nearly one million properties that could fall under the surcharge and sent roughly 17,000 warning notices, informing homeowners about the five-figure tax bill that they could face unless they prove that they are qualified for an exemption.