Adams adviser Winnie Greco faces scrutiny over cash-in-chip incident

Winnie Greco, a longtime adviser to Mayor Eric Adams and a volunteer on his reelection campaign, faces renewed scrutiny after an incident in Harlem in which she handed a reporter a bag of potato chips containing cash. The episode, described by a local publication and corroborated by others, prompted Greco to apologize and led the Adams campaign to suspend her from campaign-related activities. The mayor has said he was not informed of the matter.

Details of the encounter emerged as Greco and a The City reporter, Katie Honan, crossed paths near Adams’s Harlem campaign headquarters. After a brief exchange, Greco invited Honan to meet across the street and then accompanied her to a nearby Whole Foods. Inside the bag of Herr’s Sour Cream and Onion chips, Honan later discovered a red envelope containing money. Honan initially believed she was being offered a snack; she indicated she could not accept it, but Greco pressed the gift, and the two parted ways. Honan subsequently informed editors and later noted that the envelope contained more than $100.

Greco, who previously served as Adams’s director of Asian affairs and has been a persistent fundraiser within the Chinese American...