NEW YORK (Diya TV) — A top advisor to Mayor Eric Adams was suspended from his re-election campaign after she tried to hand a journalist cash hidden inside a potato chip bag. The adviser, Winnie Greco, was once the mayor’s director of Asian affairs at City Hall and a key fundraiser. She returned to Adams’ campaign as a volunteer for his second-term run.
On Wednesday, Greco attended an event with Adams in Harlem. According to The City, she handed reporter Katie Honan a snack bag with more than $100 in cash tucked inside a red envelope. The news outlet immediately reported the incident to the New York City Department of Investigation. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn also contacted the outlet’s lawyers, The City reported.
Adams’ campaign quickly distanced itself from Greco.
“We are shocked by these reports,” campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro said. “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 lawyer, Steven Brill, said the cash gift was cultural, not criminal.
He explained that in Chinese tradition, people often give cash to journalists as a gesture of friendship and gratitude.
“I grant you this looks odd,” Brill said. “But I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent.”
Brill added that Greco’s attempt may have been “misconstrued.” He said she is “apologetic and embarrassed.”
Honan, who covers City Hall for The City, said Greco texted her during the Harlem event and asked to meet nearby. The two walked into a Whole Foods store, where Greco handed Honan the chip bag. Honan said she tried to refuse the gift but was unable to return it. Later, on her subway ride home, she opened the bag and found the red envelope filled with one $100 bill and several $20 bills.
“I initially hoped it was a note, a tip, and then I looked and I go, ‘Oh my God, it’s money,’” Honan told The New York Times.
She said she immediately called Greco to give it back. Greco told her she had already left the area and laughed about it. Honan turned the envelope over to her editors, who contacted investigators. Federal prosecutors later retrieved the bag and cash.
The episode adds to the scandals surrounding Adams’ mayoralty and re-election campaign. Greco has already faced scrutiny. FBI agents searched her homes in the Bronx in February 2024 as part of an investigation into possible Chinese government interference in the 2021 mayoral race.
Greco resigned from Adams’ administration in October 2024 after the mayor himself faced federal corruption charges. Those charges were later dismissed by the Trump administration. Despite that, Greco reemerged this year at Adams’ campaign events.
The City reported that several associates of Adams are expected to face corruption charges soon. That includes Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the mayor’s closest political ally and former chief adviser, who has called Greco “my sister.”
Greco’s ties to Adams go back more than a decade. She began volunteering for him when he was the Brooklyn borough president in 2013. She was also by his side in Times Square in 2022, the night he was sworn in as mayor.
Greco stood alongside the mayor again when he launched his re-election bid at City Hall in June. She appeared at the event with Brianna Suggs, Adams’ top fundraiser, whose home was also searched by the FBI. When asked in a TV interview about his association with both women, Adams defended them.
“If, in their own time, they want to volunteer to help the campaign in whatever way they know how to help, the worst thing we do is say they shouldn’t,” he said.
The potato chip bag episode is likely to draw more attention to Adams’ inner circle and raise new questions about his campaign’s practices. As federal investigations continue, the mayor faces mounting pressure to distance himself from allies caught up in controversy. For now, Greco is off the campaign trail. But her latest misstep ensures that her role—and her ties to Adams—will remain under close watch.
