Alleged Potato Chip Bribe Could Be Stupidest Political Gambit Ever

We may have the funniest scandal of the year. 

Winnie Greco, a “close advisor” to Democratic New York City Mayor Eric Adams, was “suspended from his re-election campaign on Wednesday after giving a journalist cash tucked inside a potato chip bag,” according to The New York Times. (RELATED: ‘I Owe It To New Yorkers’: Eric Adams Says He’s Not Going Anywhere Despite Long Reelection Odds)

It gets better.

The cash was allegedly tucked inside a red Chinese envelope and then hidden in an “opened bag of Herr’s Sour Cream & Onion ripple potato chips,” reports The City. 

The reporter, Katie Honan, thought “it was an offer of a light snack,” and “told Greco more than once she could not accept the chips … Greco insisted that she keep them,” according to The City. 

After leaving their meeting and discovering the cash, Honan reportedly texted Greco, “I can’t take this, when can I give it back to you?” 

Greco did not respond, according to The City.

Greco’s not exactly denying the claims. Instead, Adams’ former Asian affairs adviser has a peculiar excuse for the alleged bribe.

Wild: Paying off a journo in cash stuffed in a potato chip bag.

Wilder: Blaming it on your culture.

WILDEST: Asking on the record “Can we forget about this?” https://t.co/Wv1OY6m4De pic.twitter.com/tl702SRliI

— Conor Coutts (@ConorCoutts) August 21, 2025

“I make a mistake,” she told The City in an interview. “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.”

Greco called later again to plead away the allegations, The City reports. 

“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 told the outlet. “I just wanted to have one good friend. It’s nothing.”

Well, that changes everything. This isn’t a corruption scandal. This is the persecution of an innocent Asian-American woman trying to make a friend, the Chinese way. 

“I can see how this looks strange,” Greco’s attorney, Steven Brill, told The City. “But I assure you that [Greco’s] intent was purely innocent. In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude. [Greco] is apologetic and embarrassed by any negative impression or confusion this may have caused.”

Right, which is why she allegedly made that gesture using an empty potato chip bag. Credit to Brill for coming up with the only possible defense for a client who more or less admitted her guilt on the record.

Cultural appreciation aside, you’d think Greco might have learned a thing or two about America since her last corruption scandal. 

Greco’s house was raided by agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in February 2024 in connection with corruption allegations, sources told the New York Post.

Everything about this story is hilarious. The bribe was for nothing, it was only around $200, and this was Winnie Greco’s response when the reporter outed her https://t.co/P12twqhyQx pic.twitter.com/CtfcJ9xErd

— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) August 21, 2025

The Adams administration paid — with taxpayer dollars — for the Wyndham Garden hotel to “shelter more than 100 formerly incarcerated New Yorkers integrating back into society,” according to The City. New York City’s shelter contracts with the hotel amounted to $6.2 million a year in income, according to the outlet. (RELATED: USAID Official Pleads Guilty To $550 Million Bribery Scheme)

Greco, too, was allegedly a beneficiary of this scheme. 

The City claims Greco lived in one of those hotel rooms “for more than eight months.” That expense, charged to the city, likely came to $50,000 or more, according to the paper. 

The FBI publishes a list of major corruption cases they’ve uncovered over the years. Some involve embezzlement. Others, money laundering. In former President Richard Nixon’s case, a bungled cover-up. 

None carried out their crimes via potato chip bag.

Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC