Winnie Greco, the ex-adviser to Mayor Eric Adams who handed a reporter a cash-stuffed potato chip bag, bizarrely claimed Friday that the controversial packet was her “birthday gift” and implied that the journalist she slipped the money to wanted to “hurt her.”
Greco, when reached by The Post heading to her car in The Bronx, launched into the baffling explanation for giving the bag to THE CITY reporter Katie Honan on Wednesday.
“I don’t have purpose, and I treat people everyone is the same,” Greco said. “It’s angel, OK, but if somebody want to hurt me because I have love to my community, and I have love to the world, to my family, my people, and somebody try to hurt me, I cannot say nothing.”
Ex-Eric Adams adviser Winnie Greco claimed that the bag of chips stuffed with cash that she had handed to a reporter was a “birthday gift.” David Burns/@FD4DGreco said she didn’t even know how much cash was in the red envelope found inside the Herr’s chips bag — which her attorney said contained $300 in cash — because it was “my birthday gift.”
“Before I didn’t know how much in my envelope because it’s my birthday gift that’s Chinese culture,” she said. “Somebody give me my birthday gift, I made big mistake I’m so sorry. Talk to my lawyer.”
She also double downed when The Post asked her to clarify if she really meant to say Honan wanted to “hurt” her.
New York Mayor Eric Adams (C) and Winnie Greco attended the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival held at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in New York, on August 12, 2023. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images“Yes. Talk to my lawyer,” she said.
The money-filled sour cream and onion ripple potato chip bag was widely seen as a failed bribe or payoff.
Former City Hall aide Winnie Greco handed THE CITY reporter Katie Honan an open potato chip bag containing an envelope full of cash after a reelection event for Mayor Eric Adams, according to reports. Katie Honan/THE CITYGreco and her attorney had previously defended the gift by contending it was part of Chinese culture to present cash to friends.
But Greco, who resigned from her City Hall position under a cloud of scrutiny, has apparently changed her tune to sound more like “Happy Birthday.” A source said Greco’s birthday is August 4, while Honan’s is in November.
“I can’t comment on the source of the money,” said Greco’s attorney Steven Brill, adding it was meant as a kind gesture, not as anything nefarious.
Greco additionally made the claim that City reporter Katie Honan wanted to “hurt” her. LP MediaHonan told The Post she wasn’t working on a story related to Greco before the bizarre “gift.”
Greco resigned in October from her post as Adams’ director of Asian community affairs — after she was targeted in multiple investigations — and has long been under scrutiny for ties to Chinese nationals.
Neither Adams nor his campaign are implicated in the chip saga. Greco’s volunteer status with the mayor’s re-election bid was suspended after THE CITY wrote about the cash gift earlier this week, campaign spokesman Todd Shapiro has said.
THE CITY said it reported the incident to the city Department of Investigation.
