Greco's lawyer, Steven Brill, doubled down on the "culture thing" excuse: "I can see how this looks strange. But I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent. In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude. Winnie is apologetic and embarrassed by any negative impression or confusion this may have caused."
Is it Chinese culture to deliver money inside bags of potato chips?!
I understand there is a tradition in China of giving money in red envelopes, and, to be fair, in this case, there was a red envelope that contained the money inside the potato chip bag. Go to that link to see the nature of that tradition — who does it, when, how do they behave — and compare that to what Winnie Greco did. I'm sympathetic to serious arguments about cultural differences and genuine misunderstanding, but come on.
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In the last installment of the Terminator movies, Sarah Connor kept her cell phone inside a potato chip bag to prevent GPS from tracking her location.
Unless she's advising Eric Adams on Chinese culture, her excuse makes no sense at all.
Also, every employer I've ever worked for, with any kind of international business practice, has always spelled out explicitly that while "gift culture" may be a way of doing business in some places, it is *never* a way that employer does business in those places.
Nothing I can say about Winnie would be polite nor kind.
ah Steven Brill frontman for News Guard, try again,
Modern office doors no longer have transoms to throw the cash envelope over, so one has to improvise.
I..... actually totally believe that bribing officials with bags of cash might well be "cultural" in China. One of the things that made western civilization soar was a sense of integrity and a belief that you could trust the government to be impartial. That trust goes away if everyone knows the "law" is for sale to whomever gives the biggest bribe.
Regardless of one’s culture, this is the United States of America, and you will obey our laws. I note that some cultures countenance the rape of underage females who are “unbelievers.” We don’t allow that, either. And if the American (badly misnamed) Justice system won’t punish them appropriately then perhaps it is time to reintroduce Committees of Vigilance.
I don't understand the crime here. An advisor to the mayor tried to bribe a reporter? What law does this break?
You meant "...but come on man."
so how much does Mamdani hand out for his press,
I am required to take ethics courses - total of 3 courses last year for real estate, condo management, and tax preparation. In Florida, condominium board members need to take a course before assuming office. I don't see why elected officials shouldn't have to take an ethics course before assuming office. They could tell them not to give or accept gifts and not to lie on mortgage applications.
I'm getting Unfrozen Cave Man Lawyer vibes. Our world frightens and confuses Winnie. (RIP Phil Hartman)
https://youtu.be/2AzAFqrxfeY?si=h1wiDBnaP4HvMbQT
Did they say how much? It could have been taxable but they could say it was not due until April 2026.
Pretty smart. If called out on the bribe, just trot out the dumb immigrant excuse.
It is a cultural misunderstanding.
In the US when you want to give someone a bribe you make a tax deductible contribution to their NGO.
This Chinese lout needs to be more culturally sensitive.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/04/winnie-greco-fbi-china-00144615 they call her tater salad
when you're on the corrupt left - any excuse will suffice.
Big Mike said...
Regardless of one’s culture, this is the United States of America, and you will obey our laws
Meh.
The issue here is that this is selective enforcement. Politics in the USA is riddled with crap like this.
Taking a little fish out like this does very little. The majority of politicians in this country belong in jail.
isn't this what they call 'walking around money'
The Andrew Cuomo ads referencing this should drop today.
there's a a very big web of illegal monies, that datarepublican turned up around mamdani, odd how no one seems to follow it up
mtp said...
“I don't understand the crime here. An advisor to the mayor tried to bribe a reporter?”
It was only $100; that’s the crime here.
thats four special fried rice (don't know new york prices)
In the last installment of the Terminator movies, Sarah Connor kept her cell phone inside a potato chip bag to prevent GPS from tracking her location.
A company I worked with in SoCal made specialized bags for packing electronic components, many of which were Faraday cages constructed of plastic bags made of static-dissipative HDPE and vacuum-deposited aluminum layers laminated together. Some chip bags while conforming to the same laminated construction described above (but with a more Nylon-like substrate instead of polyethylene in the static-dissipative bags) have such a thin layer of aluminum it might not actually stop a strong radio signal from a cell phone.
Just take your battery out if you survive the apocalypse.
Isn't Steven Brill a magazine publisher and author?
The current tradition in China is that cadres caught doing this sort of thing get life in prison. Or, if they’re young enough, they become organ donors.
NYC - what a sh*t show. When only democrats can win - this is what you get.
Why do so many Democrat Congresscritters have Chinese nationals (who can't speak very well) working for them? Exactly what do they bring to the table for Adams? (Assuming this isn't a set up, which it might be given it's that news outlet.) Does EVERY Democrat on the Hill have these commie Chinese working in their offices?
Poor lady.
“I just wanted to be her friend,” Greco added. “I just wanted to have one good friend.”
All that and a bag of chips.
Sorry, but somebody has to do it...
Was that wrong?
the politico link (caveat emptor) fills in some of the banks
I'm pretty sure the 'gesture of friendship and gratitude' from Johnny Chung and Yah-Lin "Charlie" Trie given to Bill & Hillary Clinton was just a cultural faux pas. They didn't mean to pay for access to anything. Or clear a path for Loral Space & Communications to send satellite technology to China, against US policy- while Loral was also putting an additional $800,000 into the Clinton's coffers.
These things just happen. I mean, cross cultural misinterpretations.
pepperidge farm remembers also cuomo''s in kind offering from the hospital association that seeded the nursing homes with covid patients,
Yes I thought her name came up in relation to Adams and money before. Dirty money of course. Grok summarizes:
Winnie Greco, an ethnic Chinese adviser and fundraiser for NYC Mayor Eric Adams, was suspended from his campaign after allegedly giving reporter Katie Honan (from The City) cash in a chip bag at an event, claiming it was a cultural gesture (per NBC, NYT reports).
Greco's other involvements: FBI-probed for straw donations in Adams' 2021 campaign; deep ties to Chinese government-linked groups; resigned from City Hall amid investigations (NYT, Politico).
I recall Witch Hochul had a similar Comprador, in her office,
No way she actually believes herself when she says "It's a culture thing." It's like crying racism -- the last rhetorical redoubt when you have nothing left to defend yourself.
" In the Chinese culture, money is often given to others in a gesture of friendship and gratitude."
and bribery.
https://www.thecity.nyc/author/katie-honan/ bribes apparently don't work
honan apparently started on the letterman show, back when it was funny, maybe,
For once, I'm temporarily flush with cash. I'd have preferred the potato chips.
"Is it Chinese culture to deliver money inside bags of potato chips?!"
Nope; gift money is delivered inside red envelopes.
that was an expensive bag of chips,
I wonder if E. Jean Carroll was also passing out bags of potato chips to her jurors ...
Dear Idiots,
Chinese people pay bribes using red envelopes.
In Taiwan, an official explained how to pay a bribe: you buy a food item, like pineapple cakes that come in a nice gift box. You put the red envelope in the box along with the baked treats, and then you give it to the official and say "THIS IS FOR YOUR CHILDREN"
See, its to help your kids, so its okay.
Sean @12:26, I figured the red envelope was for plausible deniability.
I wasn't calling people here idiots. Just the journos who bought this BS.
the story doesn't make sense, honan is not chinese, she hasn't written any favorable coverage in the past, why would the bribe work, thats not enough for parking or a decent uber,
The potato chip bag is to disguise the action if under surveillance and maybe also to have the receiver not realize until later that it was money.
In the US when you want to give someone a bribe you make a tax deductible contribution to their NGO.
Or a book deal (Takes a Village - anyone actually read that?) or Netflix deal (did Obama actually ever produce and air anything?).
Political bribery is not "cultural", it's universal.
Cultural excuse? Yeah! Like those Pakis and the little English girls over in Rotherham, UK.
Totally above board. I always deliver my thinly-disguised bribes in potato chip bags.
What this shows is how often US reporters are being bribed by political campaigns for them to be this haphazard and nonchalant about it.
Is it illegal to bribe members of the media to offer nice coverage? Nope.
"You put the red envelope in the box along with the baked treats, and then you give it to the official and say "THIS IS FOR YOUR CHILDREN."
This is exactly how they bribed the warden in Shawshank to make sure his free labor wouldn't be used undercut the local construction company.
“In the US when you want to give someone a bribe you make a tax deductible contribution to their NGO.
Or a book deal (Takes a Village - anyone actually read that?) or Netflix deal (did Obama actually ever produce and air anything?).”
Or buy their artwork. Or give them a no-show job in Ukraine.
Seems like sort of a dumb tradition.
"This burning of widows [sati] is your custom; prepare the funeral pyre. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed." -- Charles James Napier.
Its a "chinese thing"? I thought it was a Chicago/Boston/NJ thing.
Yes, the Chinese do give gifts and money to their friends. And their "Friends" are expected to do them favors. If asked.
Biden and Hillary never had to give the NYT's reporters money for "Teeing it up for them". They're all Democrats, and all on the same "Team".
I'm sympathetic to serious arguments about cultural differences and genuine misunderstanding, but come on.
I'm not. At all. typical British magistrate excuse for letting islamic rapists go. And light sentences for the same here.
"I'm sympathetic to serious arguments about cultural differences and genuine misunderstanding, but come on."
I'm not. At all.
What about bowing? I understand there are subtleties there that are difficult for non-Japanese (for instance) even to perceive, much less to carry out. What about belching? What about personal space expectations?
Of course, as in our own culture in which some women will be offended if a man doesn't open a door for them and others who will be offended if he does, an assumption of goodwill on the part of the other would go a long way in all cases.
But in this case.... money in red envelope hidden in trash doesn't seem like "this is my culture"; it seems like, "I want to buy a favor, either now or in future, I know that I shouldn't be doing this, but I happen to have a handy cultural figleaf that might help me if I get caught."
You see the Chinese are massively corrupt. Sure they give money as 'presents'.. it is expected.. that is how bad their corruption is... just as bad, if not worse, that Russia now.
What we consider a payoff is just.. well expected as a business transaction.
Japan has done this to for decades..
BUT.. any American would know it is illegal and is consider a payoff or kickback.
This is such a fun story. I love it.
What kind of reporter can't get more specific than, "at least one $100 bill and several $20 bills"?
It wasn't Chinese culture that confused her it was the culture of Journalists in the USA.
The commie operative, fronting for the CCP through their vast American operations, United Front Work Organizations, has had to flee back to China for financial crimes in the past, and she brought Adams to China at least seven times. Her last best friend, Adams chief aide Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was indicted for money laundering for accepting favors from businessmen to help her rapper son buy a Porsche. Lewis-Martin described Adams as "the patriarch" of their multiculti family, which also includes indicted Turkish aide Ranna Abbasova, who has opened doors for Adams in Turkey.
So. This is the future of our country. The most viable candidate to run NYC is indebted to the CCP, Turkey, and an America-born turkey. This isn't about cultural sensitivity: it's a glimpse of actual communist control over our financial capital city. Few people even know how many legal and illegal CCP Chinese nationals live in NYC. Why is this so difficult for people to see and be alarmed by? These people are committed communists. Why distract yourself from considering the consequences of this?
What @Tina Trent said, and I'll take it a speculation further - I wonder who Winnie works for, and if she maybe has a second boss? Because it sure looks like the Adams campaign just got a torpedo amidships.
If that excuse flies I can envision a new cottage industry. Wanted: Individuals with heavy accents from countries where cash bribes are welcome (list attached). Apply at www.WeNeedALawPassed
I don't see why elected officials shouldn't have to take an ethics course before assuming office.
Because for such a rule to come about, it would have to be sponsored and enacted by...elected officials.
Not nearly as funny as former MA state rep Dianne Wilkerson being caught on camera taking bribe money and stuffing it down her (extremely ample) bra. Howie Carr got so much mileage out of that story.
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