A former top City Hall advisor to Mayor Eric Adams attempted to give money to a reporter from The City news agency following a campaign event in Harlem on Wednesday.
The failed payoff — a wad of cash in a red envelope stuffed inside an opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion ripple potato chips — was made by Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams ally who resigned last year from her position as the mayor’s liaison to the Asian community after she was targeted in multiple investigations. She resurfaced recently as a regular presence in his re-election campaign, the news site reported.
City Hall reporter Katie Honan spotted Greco near the announcement of the opening of Adams’ newest campaign office, in Harlem. Greco later texted Honan after the event when she spotted her again and asked her to meet across the street from the campaign office next to a TD Bank.
Greco and Honan walked to the Whole Foods next door. While inside the store, Greco handed Honan the opened bag of chips with the top crumpled closed. Honan, thinking it was an offer of a light snack, told Greco more than once she could not accept the chips, but Greco insisted that she keep them.
The two parted ways. Before entering a nearby subway station, Honan opened the bag and discovered a red envelope inside stuffed with cash, at least one $100 bill and several $20 bills.
Honan then called Greco and told her she could not accept the money and asked if she was still nearby so she could give it back.
In an interview later Wednesday, Greco said she had made “a mistake” and apologized over and over. Greco has since been suspended from the mayor's re-election campaign, the New York Times reported.
Times reporters also witnessed supporters of Adams handing out cash-filled envelopes at recent events. Sometimes, that money went to reporters from Chinese-language outlets, and is a common practice in Chinese culture to give cash to “reporters, YouTubers, photographers” as a “thank you for coming” gift, the paper reported.
