New York mayor taps ex-FTC chair Khan for key economic post, separately faces suit over rent freeze

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, July 22 (Reuters) - New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration named former Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan on Wednesday as board chair of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.

Separately, a group of the city's landlords filed a lawsuit aiming to block a recently approved rent freeze that Mamdani championed.

DETAILS ON KHAN:

• Khan served as FTC chair under former President Joe Biden's administration and pushed to use U.S. antitrust law to boost competition, address high prices and low wages, and ensure consumers and workers were not disadvantaged by powerful corporations.

• Khan, an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School, challenged numerous mergers during her tenure as FTC chair.

• Anthony Shorris, a partner at global consulting firm McKinsey & Company and a longtime city government official, was named president and CEO of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, Mamdani's office said.

• The New York City Economic Development Corporation is a nonprofit that serves as the city's official economic development agency.

DETAILS ON LAWSUIT:

• A New York City housing board voted in late June to freeze the rents for about 1 million regulated apartments for up to two years, fulfilling a central campaign promise of Mamdani only months into his term.

• A group of landlords filed a lawsuit against the New York City Rent Guidelines Board on Wednesday, alleging Mamdani "went to extraordinary lengths to pack the board with loyalists" who did not consider rising property costs in their decision.

• The 7-1 vote in late June by the city's Rent Guidelines Board set increases at zero on both one-year and two-year leases from October.

• Mamdani's office and the Rent Guidelines Board did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

• Landlord groups contended the rent freeze would only make it harder for property owners to maintain their buildings and said some were not able to cover their mortgages.

• Mamdani, a democratic socialist who promised to make the city more affordable, appointed six of the board's nine members after taking office in January, saying he chose people he thought were sympathetic to tenants.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in WashingtonEditing by Rod Nickel)