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Mamdani Names FTC Veteran Sam Levine to Lead NYC Consumer and Worker Protection

The hire signals a shift to federal-style enforcement with a larger, better-funded watchdog under Julie Su.

Overview

  • Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced Sam Levine as commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection at a Monday press conference in Lower Manhattan.
  • Levine led the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection from 2021 to 2025 and previously advised Commissioner Rohit Chopra and served in the Illinois attorney general’s office.
  • Julie Su, the incoming deputy mayor for economic justice, will oversee the agency as the administration moves to double DCWP’s roughly $65 million budget and expand staffing.
  • The enforcement agenda will target wage theft, worker misclassification, labor abuse, deceptive practices, and protections for approximately 80,000 delivery workers.
  • Lina Khan praised the pick as a tough, impartial enforcer, while questions at the event covered inauguration plans and responses to an ADL report about staff ties to anti-Zionist groups.