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.

The event, organized by four influential community leaders, buzzed with dozens of fervent backers, proudly wearing shirts adorned with Mr. Adams’s face and energetically waving U.S. flags as they chanted and called for his re-election.

One of the organizers, Steven Tin, the director of Better Chinatown USA, which hosts the Lunar New Year parades in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was seen by The Times holding $50 bills and handing out red envelopes to reporters from Chinese-language news organizations.

At the event, Mr. Tin said that it is a common practice in Chinese culture to give cash to “reporters, YouTubers, photographers” as a “thank you for coming” gift.

Reached by phone on Thursday, Mr. Tin said that the payments to reporters were small and were made not to ensure coverage, but rather as a “courtesy.” He said he would ask the Adams campaign to cover the cost of water and banners for the event, but that he had not yet discussed whether it would reimburse him for the cash payments.

Mr. Shapiro, the Adams campaign spokesman, ruled that out.

“We do not provide it, we do not direct it and we do not authorize anyone to distribute it,” Mr. Shapiro said. “Any suggestion otherwise is false and misleading.”

Five days after the event in Queens, Chinese American community leaders held a rally at Confucius Plaza in Chinatown in Manhattan, where Times reporters again witnessed red envelopes being distributed. Then, on July 27, Times reporters saw more envelopes being passed out at the Sunset Park rally.

Robin Mui, the chief executive of the Sing Tao U.S. newspaper, was among the organizers of the Manhattan rally. Mr. Mui made at least one trip, in 2014, to China with Mr. Adams and Ms. Greco.

Mr. Mui, who also heads a local Chinese journalists’ group, told The Times that reporters received red envelopes from Adams supporters at last month’s events as a “form of appreciation” to cover transportation expenses and to “subsidize” their salaries. Mr. Tin “had to” give the reporters cash, he said; “otherwise they don’t write their stories.”

Sing Tao News Corporation, the parent company of the newspaper Mr. Mui runs, publishes a pro-Beijing newspaper from Hong Kong. In 2021, Mr. Mui registered Sing Tao U.S. with the U.S. Justice Department as a foreign agent acting on behalf of the parent company.

One reporter for a Chinese-language publication who attended one of Mr. Adams’s events said that the practice of receiving cash is common among Chinese-language journalists in New York, with amounts in the envelopes ranging from $20 to $300. The reporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said that groups holding press events, including businesses and community associations, want reporters to attend and write positive articles.

After Wednesday’s episode involving Ms. Greco and the reporter at The City, the outlet promptly reported it to the city’s Department of Investigation. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, where Ms. Greco has been under investigation regarding ties to China, seized the cash, the red envelope and the potato chip bag in which it was stashed, according to the publication.

The Adams campaign immediately suspended Ms. Greco, who had been working as a volunteer. Her lawyer said she was embarrassed and that her intent had been “purely innocent.”