A close advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been suspended from his re-election campaign after allegedly giving a journalist a potato chip bag filled with cash.
Winnie Greco reportedly handed Katie Honan, a journalist at The City, a potato chip bag containing cash on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at an event in Harlem, according to the outlet and The New York Times.
Greco previously served as the mayor’s director of Asian affairs at City Hall and later returned to volunteer for Adams’ second-term campaign.
After the event, Greco and Honan walked to a nearby Whole Foods, where Greco allegedly gave her the bag of chips. Once apart, Honan opened it, expecting perhaps a note or tip, but instead discovered a red envelope containing over $100.
“I looked and I go, ‘Oh my God, it’s money,’” Honan recalled to NYT. She then tried to contact Greco, who had left the area, preventing Honan from returning the money.
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The City reported the incident to the NYC Department of Investigation, and federal prosecutors subsequently reached out to the newspaper’s lawyers.
Greco told the outlet she had made “a mistake” and repeatedly apologized.
“I make a mistake,” she said. “I’m so sorry. It’s a culture thing. I don’t know. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I feel so bad right now. I’m so sorry, honey.”
She also asked, “Can we forget about this? I try to be a good person. Please. Please. Please don’t do in the news nothing about me.”
“I just wanted to be her friend,” Greco added. “I just wanted to have one good friend. It’s nothing.”
Her attorney, Steven Brill, told the outlet that “this looks strange,” but claimed Greco’s “intent was purely innocent.”
“In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude,” Brill said. “Winnie is apologetic and embarrassed by any negative impression or confusion this may have caused.”
Adams’s campaign spokesman, Todd Shapiro, said, “We are shocked by these reports. Winnie Greco holds no position in this campaign and has been suspended from all volunteer campaign-related activities.”
Shapiro added that Adams has “always demanded the highest ethical and legal standards.”
Greco’s alleged actions come amid prior reports that the FBI searched her Bronx home in February 2024 over potential ties to Chinese government interference in the 2021 mayoral race. She resigned from Adams’ administration in October 2024 but had volunteered for him since he was elected Brooklyn borough president in 2013.
Her suspension follows Adams’ indictment on five criminal counts related to alleged dealings with foreign businessmen and a Turkish official seeking to influence his decisions.
