NEW YORK, Aug 21, (AP): A longtime adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams who resigned from his administration while under FBI scrutiny gave a reporter a potato chip bag filled with cash Wednesday following a campaign event, a gift her lawyer later insisted wasn’t an attempted bribe. The local news site The City reported the episode hours after one of its reporters said Winnie Greco had pressed a bag of potato chips into her hands containing a red envelope with a $100 bill and several $20 bills.

The reporter, Katie Honan, had scrutinized Greco’s conduct in the past as a major fundraiser for Adams in the Chinese American community. Greco’s attorney, Steven Brill, told The Associated Press that the situation was being "blown out of proportion." "This was not a bag of cash,” Brill wrote in an email. "In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude.

And that’s all that was done here. Winnie‘s intention was born purely out of kindness.” Asked why Greco wanted to make such a gesture to Honan, Brill said, "She knows the reporter and is fond of her.” The City said it interviewed Greco later Wednesday and she apologized, saying she made "a mistake.” "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,” Greco said, according to The City. In response to the report of the bag filled with cash, Adams’ reelection campaign said it had suspended Greco from further work as an unpaid volunteer and that Adams had no prior knowledge of Greco’s actions. The City reported Greco had texted Honan to meet her inside a Whole Foods store after they both attended the opening of Adams' campaign headquarters in Harlem.

When given the chip bag, Honan at first thought Greco was just giving her a snack and said she could not accept it but Greco insisted, according to the report. Honan left and later discovered the money, then called Greco and told her she could not accept it and asked to give it back. Greco said they could meet later but then stopped responding, the report said.