Eric Adams Staffer Tries To Give Reporter Cash Stuffed in Bag of Potato Chips

Eric Adams/Herr’s South Cream & Onion

A campaign aide for New York Mayor Eric Adams attempted to give a reporter a wad of cash inside a crumpled-up bag of potato chips on Wednesday for some reason.

Katie Honan, a reporter for THE CITY news website, attended a campaign event for the scandal-plagued mayor in Harlem, where she noticed Winnie Greco, a longtime Adams confidante. Greco resigned from her position as a city liaison to the Asian community last year after the FBI raided two of her homes.

THE CITY reported that Greco attempted to give Honan a $100 bill and multiple $20 bills “inside an opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion ripple potato chips”:

On Wednesday, 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. The reporter 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. Greco said she’d left the area. Honan told her she had to take the money back, and Greco said they could meet at some point in Chinatown.

The reporter then texted Greco, “I can’t take this, when can I give it back to you?” She did not get a response.

After the incident, THE CITY contacted Greco to ask why she had attempted to pay off one of its reporters.

Greco replied that she 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 then called THE CITY back, advising that we call her attorney, Steven Brill, and adding, “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.”

On Wednesday evening, Greco was suspended from her position on Adams’s reelection campaign.

Adams was indicted in September on federal bribery charges. Prosecutors alleged that the mayor acted as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of Turkey. However, President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Justice to drop the charges.

“I helped him out a little bit,” Trump bragged last month.

The mayor is running for reelection, but is lagging in the polls behind Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, and the Democratic nominee, state Rep. Zohran Mamdani, who is currently the frontrunner.