Red Envelopes With Cash Are Changing Hands at Adams Campaign Rallies

Few New York City politicians have had a tighter bond with the Chinese American community than Mayor Eric Adams.

This week, a new layer to the relationship emerged: red envelopes filled with cash.

The news that an adviser to Mr. Adams, Winnie Greco, had attempted to pay a reporter from an online news outlet, The City, stood out as a bold departure from political norms. Ms. Greco had put a red envelope stuffed with cash inside a potato chip bag and slipped it to the reporter after a campaign event.

But the episode was not an isolated incident in Chinese-language media circles.

In July, New York Times reporters witnessed other Adams supporters handing out red envelopes with cash at three separate campaign events: one in Flushing, Queens; another in Manhattan’s Chinatown; and a third in Sunset Park in Brooklyn. At those events, Mr. Adams picked up support from leaders of influential Chinese community groups, including several with close ties to the Chinese government.

Ms. Greco, a top Adams fund-raiser whose homes were raided last year by federal investigators looking for evidence of Chinese interference in the 2021 mayor’s race, was present at all three of the rallies.

The Adams campaign said it was unaware of any payments to reporters and had not approved them.

“Mayor Adams had absolutely no knowledge of this and does not condone it,” Todd Shapiro, his spokesman, said. “He has never — and would never — authorize anyone to hand out cash or gifts to reporters. Any such behavior is inappropriate and unacceptable.”

At the event in Flushing on July 13, dozens of Chinese American leaders gathered outside a public library branch to offer their support for Mr. Adams, giving him a needed boost as he trailed badly in polls. Mr. Adams, a registered Democrat who took office in 2022, is running a long-shot bid for re-election as an independent in November as his mayoralty has been tarnished by federal investigations and scandals.