On a humid August evening in Harlem, a seemingly innocuous exchange at a campaign event for New York City Mayor Eric Adams erupted into the latest scandal to rock his embattled administration. Winnie Greco, Adams’ longtime confidante and a volunteer for his re-election campaign, handed reporter Katie Honan a bag of potato chips. Inside, Honan later discovered a red envelope—stuffed with a $100 bill and several $20s. What began as a campaign event quickly spiraled into a citywide controversy, raising fresh questions about the mayor’s inner circle, campaign ethics, and the future of City Hall.
According to The City, Greco approached Honan after the campaign event on August 20, 2025, texting her to meet at a nearby Whole Foods. There, Greco pressed the snack bag into Honan’s hands. Despite Honan’s attempts to refuse, Greco insisted. It wasn’t until Honan was on her subway ride home that she opened the bag and found the cash-filled envelope. “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 immediately tried to call Greco to return the money, but Greco had already left the area and, according to Honan, laughed about the incident.
Honan promptly turned the envelope over to her editors, who reported the incident to the New York City Department of Investigation. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn soon contacted The City’s lawyers, and the bag and cash were retrieved by authorities. The episode, which might sound like something out of a political satire, quickly became a serious matter for Adams’ campaign and City Hall.
For Adams, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The mayor’s re-election bid has already been dogged by allegations of corruption and a string of high-profile investigations into his closest advisers. Greco herself was no stranger to scrutiny. Back in February 2024, FBI agents searched her Bronx homes as part of a probe into possible Chinese government interference in the 2021 mayoral race. Greco stepped down as Adams’ director of Asian affairs in October 2024, following the mayor’s own federal corruption indictment—charges that were later dismissed by the Trump administration. Despite her resignation, Greco resurfaced at campaign events in 2025, including Adams’ campaign launch in June, and was seen alongside other key figures like Brianna Suggs, Adams’ top fundraiser, whose home was also searched by the FBI.
When news of the potato chip bag incident broke, Adams’ campaign acted swiftly. “We are shocked by these reports,” said campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro, emphasizing that Greco held no official position and had been suspended from all volunteer activities. “Mayor Adams had no prior knowledge of this matter. He has always demanded the highest ethical and legal standards, and his sole focus remains on serving the people of New York City with integrity.”
Greco’s attorney, Steven Brill, insisted the gesture was “purely innocent,” rooted in Chinese tradition, where cash is often given as a token of friendship and gratitude. “I grant you this looks odd,” Brill told reporters. “But I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent.” Greco herself was apologetic and embarrassed. Speaking to The City, 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.” Brill added that the incident may have been “misconstrued.”
But the explanations did little to quell the uproar. At a news conference two days later, Adams was pressed to address the growing list of scandals swirling around his administration. While he staunchly defended Ingrid Lewis-Martin—his former senior adviser who was recently indicted on bribery and corruption charges—calling her “like a sister” and praising her decades of service, he struck a different tone regarding Greco. “We don’t give money to reporters. I don’t know anything about what took place there. We condemn that type of action—if that was done for the wrong reason,” Adams said, according to New York Post.
The mayor’s refusal to condemn Lewis-Martin, who was charged with trading favors for real estate developers in exchange for bribes, drew sharp criticism from his political rivals. Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, currently leading in the polls, lambasted Adams for maintaining close ties with both Lewis-Martin and Greco, even after their resignations and ongoing law enforcement scrutiny. “It showcases what he is willing to sacrifice, and that is the public in order to protect those that he knows personally,” Mamdani said. “These are the same names we have read in the papers for months, and now they are back again with new accusations.”
Adding to the spectacle, former Governor Andrew Cuomo staged his own campaign event the day after the potato chip incident, handing out bags of Doritos and other snacks to reporters—a cheeky jab at Greco’s choice of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion chips. Even Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa couldn’t resist, with Adams firing back at his rivals in a characteristically combative fashion. “I’m not going to leave this city to a beret-wearing carnival display,” Adams quipped about Sliwa, before taking aim at Cuomo and Mamdani as well.
The new indictments ensnared not only Lewis-Martin but also her son, Glen Martin II, and siblings Gina and Tony Argento, who own the film production company Broadway Stages and are donors to Adams. Both Lewis-Martin and her son were already facing separate bribery allegations involving hotelier favors and even a Porsche as a bribe. Both have pleaded not guilty, and Adams has repeatedly invoked the principle of due process. “If you condemn someone without that process, it’s a slap in the face of what our Constitution stands for,” the mayor said. “Let the due process play out.”
Yet the drumbeat of scandal has left Adams increasingly isolated. His attempts to distance himself from Greco—while standing by other embattled allies—have only fueled criticism that his administration is beset by “21st-century Tammany Hall” politics, as Mamdani described it. The optics of a cash-filled chip bag, regardless of cultural context, have become a symbol of the broader questions about Adams’ judgment and the company he keeps.
For Greco, the fallout has been swift. She remains suspended from all campaign activities, her reputation clouded by both the FBI probe and the recent incident. For Adams, the saga is a stark reminder that in New York City politics, even the smallest gesture—especially one involving cash—can have outsized consequences. As federal investigations continue and the mayoral race heats up, voters and watchdogs alike are watching closely to see whether Adams can weather the storm or if more revelations lie ahead.
The city’s political future, it seems, may hinge as much on potato chips as on policy—at least for now.
