Now FBI raids Bronx homes of Winnie Greco, longtime Brooklyn BP liaison to Chinese community, more recently an aide to Mayor Adams
Drip, drip drip.
It turns out that a person who looked pretty dubious a decade ago (!) may indeed be pretty dubious. (Another one too, albeit with a shorter horizon--see bottom.)
She had then just been the subject of two tough pieces of journalism, from the New York Post and, especially, The City.
Flashback, 2014
Original Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, as I reported, pushed hard to get Adams to meet with incoming project majority owner Greenland Holding Corp., parent of Greenland USA (buying 70% of the project going forward), on his trip and supplied talking points for him.
The Borough President's team, including Greco, tried to make it work, though it ultimately didn't come to fruition. Ultimately, Greenland met with Adams in Brooklyn, with Greco present.
International travel, including lodging in Hong Kong and Beijing, was paid for by Greco's Sino-America New York Brooklyn Archway Association Corp., with costs in other locations paid for by the host local governments.
However, the New York Post reported that the Archway organization, which spent nearly $7,000 on trip expenses for Adams and Deputy BP Diana Reyna, had no discernible institutional history. Also, one of the organization's three directors said he had no idea how it paid for the trip.
As The CITY reported two days ago, FBI Raids Homes of Mayoral Aide Winnie Greco and New World Mall, Site of Eric Adams Campaign Operations:
FBI agents raided two Bronx homes owned by a top aide to Mayor Eric Adams early Thursday morning, along with the offices of a Queens mall that hosted Adams campaign operations.
THE CITY previously uncovered strong evidence of potentially illegal straw donations tied to the mall.
The aide, Adams’ director of Asian affairs Winnie Greco, was deeply involved in eight separate fundraising events at the New World Mall that generated tens of thousands of dollars for Adams’ 2021 mayoral campaign...
Greco, who is paid $100,000 a year for her City Hall job, is already being probed by the city’s Department of Investigation in the aftermath of another story by THE CITY detailing allegations of ethical improprieties against her. One business executive alleged to THE CITY that Greco solicited a $10,000 donation for a nonprofit she had founded as a condition for attending an event at Gracie Mansion with Adams honoring the Chinese community. A former Adams campaign volunteer who obtained a city government job with Greco’s help told THE CITY that Greco demanded he supervise renovations at one of her houses for no pay.As I wrote last November, Greco, a longtime Bronx resident who somehow served as the liaison (link) to Brooklyn Chinese community for Brooklyn Borough Presidents Marty Markowitz and Eric Adams, and now serves as an aide and close advisor to Mayor Adams--close to him at his swearing-in ceremony and traveling with Adams’ son, Jordan Coleman--has long struck me as deserving of scrutiny, given her dubious and nontransparent roles.
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| In Brooklyn, (l.-r.) Borough President Adams, Greenland's Xu Jing, Borough Hall Liaison Greco |
Flashback, 2014
That led me to recall my report in 2014 on Greco, which followed up, in part on reporting in the New York Post on Greco.
One contributor to the latter was Yoav Gonen, now one of the reporters on the Greco trail for The CITY.
As I reported in September 2014, Greco, who claimed on one web site that she was "director of China-US affair in Brooklyn," helped organize Adams's trip earlier that year to China, aiming "to mutually promote economic development and tourism," including discussions with government officials about bringing a friendship arch to Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Chinatown.
As I reported in September 2014, Greco, who claimed on one web site that she was "director of China-US affair in Brooklyn," helped organize Adams's trip earlier that year to China, aiming "to mutually promote economic development and tourism," including discussions with government officials about bringing a friendship arch to Sunset Park, Brooklyn's Chinatown.
Original Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner, as I reported, pushed hard to get Adams to meet with incoming project majority owner Greenland Holding Corp., parent of Greenland USA (buying 70% of the project going forward), on his trip and supplied talking points for him.
The Borough President's team, including Greco, tried to make it work, though it ultimately didn't come to fruition. Ultimately, Greenland met with Adams in Brooklyn, with Greco present.
International travel, including lodging in Hong Kong and Beijing, was paid for by Greco's Sino-America New York Brooklyn Archway Association Corp., with costs in other locations paid for by the host local governments.
However, the New York Post reported that the Archway organization, which spent nearly $7,000 on trip expenses for Adams and Deputy BP Diana Reyna, had no discernible institutional history. Also, one of the organization's three directors said he had no idea how it paid for the trip.
Looking back
I remember telling some people over the years that a news organization with a budget and some Chinese speakers should investigate Greco. It finally happened, but not until her patron became Mayor.
Would a more robust press have told us more about Mayor-to-be Adams? Surely.
Heck, I didn't even put Greco in my August 2018 op-ed for City & State, Eric Adams has faced less scrutiny than he deserves.
But I did write:
Similarly, you might expect Adams to steer clear of Bishop Lamor Whitehead (referenced in court documents as Lamar Whitehead), who was convicted of identity theft and attempted grand larceny in 2008, but since his 2013 release from prison he’s become a religious figure with connections to the hip-hop world. Instead, Adams has joined Whitehead at numerous public events, telling the New York Post that “because people embraced me when I was arrested, I embrace Lamor Whitehead.”And we know how that's turned out. He's in federal court, fighting charges of wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI.
But Adams was arrested at 15 after a neighborhood break-in, not imprisoned as an adult; meanwhile Whitehead’s bogus claim that the Kings County district attorney was cooperating with his organization prompted the DA to send a cease-and-desist letter in 2014. Whitehead has already filed to run for Brooklyn borough president.
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