Allegations have surfaced that Zohran Mamdani’s campaign received substantial financial support, reportedly in the form of tens of millions of dollars, from charities linked to George Soros. This funding is alleged to be part of a complex scheme that might have breached federal tax regulations.
Mamdani, a 34-year-old State Assemblyman, has been celebrated for his rise to prominence as a leading mayoral candidate in New York City, attributing his success to a grassroots movement bolstered by numerous small contributions and the efforts of young volunteers actively campaigning on his behalf.
However, the Daily Mail reports that this story of grassroots success is now under scrutiny. According to a report from a watchdog site, questions are being raised about the true nature of this support.
The conservative investigative platform, White Collar Fraud, claims that a network of tax-exempt entities associated with billionaire Soros strategically orchestrated political maneuvers to bolster Mamdani. This allegedly involved channeling over $40 million through nonprofits, transforming charitable donations into political funding.
The Soros-linked group has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the report’s accusations as ‘riddled with inaccuracies, false assumptions, and misinformation.’
A spokesperson for the Open Society Foundation, established by Soros and currently led by his son Alex, 40, countered the report’s claims, telling the Daily Mail that the allegations do not hold up under scrutiny.
‘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.
New York City mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani faces allegations that George Soros and his affiliated entities violated federal tax laws by funneling more than $40million of illegally diverted charitable donations to his campaign
An explosive new report claims a network of tax-exempt organizations connected to billionaire financier George Soros funneled $40million in ‘charitable’ funds to support Mamdani
Antar, who is a convicted felon and former CPA, now assists the government in white-collar fraud investigations and has lectured on such crimes on college campuses and at the IRS.
He called what he uncovered ‘the manufacturing process of a generational political machine that has weaponized the income tax code’.
And he described Mamdani as ‘a product of that machine.’
Antar said he uncovered how Soros’s tax-exempt organizations helped fund activities that ‘mimicked what looked like a grassroots campaign’, including large-scale door-knocking efforts.
‘The problem is they weren’t campaigning for a general cause like women’s rights,’ he said. ‘They were campaigning for a specific candidate. And that’s the rub.’
Under US tax law, a 501(c)(3) may fund a 501(c)(4) for nonpartisan purposes such as issue advocacy or civic engagement.
But that money is not supposed to be used to directly support or oppose a candidate, a line that can be difficult to prove without internal communications or evidence showing intent.
Sam Antar, an investigator for government watchdog group White Collar Fraud, told the Daily Mail he uncovered how Soros’s tax-exempt organizations helped fund activities that ‘mimicked what looked like a grassroots campaign’
Mamdani’s team has done its best to paint him as a grassroots Democratic Socialist challenger not beholden to the billionaires he routinely trashes
The chief accusation in Antar’s investigation is that major 501(c)(3) charities, which are entities legally barred from engaging in partisan politics, channeled millions of dollars to affiliated 501(c)(4) social-welfare groups that can legally conduct limited political work.
Antar’s more than 40-page forensic analysis, which includes receipts such as citations to IRS filings, campaign finance records, and internal reports, alleges that the same network of nonprofits that publicly describe themselves as ‘partners’ in various progressive causes simultaneously filed federal forms denying any coordination.
According to the report, this discrepancy suggests not clerical error but what it describes as ‘systematic fraud.’
Antar alleges that this practice effectively ‘launders’ tax-deductible charitable contributions into campaign support.
While careful to avoid direct legal accusations, Antar said: ‘The 501(c)(4)s have gone beyond what the IRS code allows.’
His report names the Open Society Foundation and five other groups linked to Soros.
The report claims that all six organizations ultimately endorsed Mamdani and deployed field operations supporting his campaign – turning ‘charitable’ deductions into political endorsements for the mayoral candidate.
The six groups also formed what Antar calls a ‘coordinated ground army’ to support Mamdani’s campaign.
The report documents a combined total of more than 100,000 doors knocked across New York City and extensive volunteer mobilization.
Antar told the Daily Mail that he believes Mamdani is going to win the election next week and that his goal is not to stop him – but to expose the underlying structure he said is behind his meteoric rise.
‘I kind of concede the fact that he’s going to win,’ he said. ‘What I want to do is go after the machine that produces candidates like him.’
He compared Soros’s network to historic political organizations like Chicago’s Daley machine or Tammany Hall – but national in scope.
‘This is the 2025 version of that,’ he said. ‘A machine that can produce candidates at scale.’
As Soros, 93, has aged he has passed the Open Society Foundation work to his son Alex who shares his father’s values and priorities
White Collar Fraud’s investigation argues that the scope of Soros’s alleged network extends far beyond Mamdani’s campaign, potentially spanning hundreds of races nationwide.
‘The complete scope of this coordination can only be understood with investigative and subpoena powers, the report concludes.
‘What we document is merely the visible tip of an industrial-scale political enterprise.’
Antar was convicted of fraud for his role in his cousin ‘Crazy Eddie’ Antar’s illegal securities scheme in the 1990s, and sentenced to six months of house arrest.
He told the Daily Mail that tax law offers the most straightforward way to prosecute what he said are shady campaign finance schemes like Soros’s.
‘Remember Al Capone,’ he said. ‘They couldn’t get him on murder, extortion, prostitution – they got him on income tax evasion.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Mamdani spokesman Andrew Epstein for comment.
