Mamdani taps federal regulator to lead Department of Consumer and Worker Protection

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Monday that Sam Levine, the former director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, will lead the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

Levine worked under former FTC chair Lina Khan, who now co-chairs Mamdani’s 400-person transition team, serving in the federal consumer protection office from 2021 until 2025.

The Harvard Law School graduate will be tasked with fighting wage theft, employee misclassification, labor abuse and deceptive or predatory corporate practices, the mayor’s office said, including taking up efforts to protect the 80,000 deliveristas working across the city.

He brings experience cracking down on Big Tech, including GrubHub’s exploitation of delivery workers and restaurants; Amazon’s paid subscription traps; and Meta’s and TikTok’s data-stealing practices.

“I believe that the law is a tool for justice. It’s not a static text, but a living and breathing instrument that has the power to transform the lives of working people,” Levine said at a Monday press conference.

Levine previously worked as an attorney adviser to former FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, and before that, worked for the Illinois attorney general.

He cited Khan’s and Chopra’s guidance as he acknowledged that he’s a “relatively new New Yorker,” but pointed to his family’s roots in the city, including a grandmother who grew up on the Lower East Side.

“She was a teacher here in the city, and it’s a great honor to carry on that tradition of public service,” Levine said.

Mamdani kicked off the press conference by reiterating his office’s commitment to creating a government that benefits everyday New Yorkers, including consumers and small business owners.

“New Yorkers often associate government with an irrelevance to their day-to-day struggles,” the mayor-elect said.

“I want to write a different story from our City Hall: a story of ambition, of reinvention, where working people know that they have fierce champions at every level of government.”

Levine will work under Julie Su, incoming deputy mayor for economic justice.

“From cracking down on price gouging to prohibiting junk fees, Sam has defeated corporate greed throughout his career. He’s a perfect addition to our team and I can’t wait to work together to win our affordability agenda,” Su said in a statement Monday.

At the press conference Mamdani also fielded questions about his inauguration; at midnight on Dec. 31, New York Attorney General Letitia James will swear in the new mayor, before Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders does the same at a separate event on Jan. 1.

Mamdani was also asked about the short-lived appointment of a staffer who resigned after antisemitic social media posts from over a decade ago came to light, and a report Monday by the Anti-Defamation League highlighting links between the mayor’s staff and anti-Zionist groups including Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace and Within Our Lifetime.

“I have always spoken out against anti-Semitism and hatred in any form and have made it clear that the commitment I have made to protect New Yorkers, to protect Jewish New Yorkers, is one that I will uphold as the next mayor of this city — and we must distinguish between antisemitism and criticism of the Israeli government. The ADL’s report oftentimes ignores this distinction, and in doing so it draws attention away from the very real crisis of antisemitism we see not only just in our city but in the country at large,” Mamdani said.

Levine returned to the podium to offer his own thoughts:

“I was on the transition committee. I’m also a Jewish New Yorker. I have every confidence that the mayor-elect will be a mayor for all New Yorkers; if I had any doubt whatsoever, I would not be standing here today,” he said.