FBI probes Bronx home of Mayor Adams aide Winnie Greco

[Gunnar Larson]

Oh my God!

Gunnar
---

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/02/29/fbi-probes-bronx-home-of-top-adams-aide/

 FBI agents on Thursday raided two Bronx homes owned by Winnie Greco, a top
aide to Mayor Adams, multiple sources confirmed to the Daily News.

Greco <https://tableofsuccess.hellgatenyc.com/winnie-greco/>, Adams’ director
of Asian affairs
<https://www.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/311-22/transcript-mayor-eric-adams-hosts-asian-american-pacific-islander-heritage-event>,
has for months been the subject of a city Department of Investigation
<https://www.nyc.gov/site/doi/index.page> probe examining whether she
attempted to milk perks out of her government job. It wasn’t immediately
clear if Thursday’s FBI raids, which targeted two homes that Greco owns on
Gillespie Avenue in Pelham Bay, are related to the DOI investigation.

A law enforcement source described the Thursday action as “court-authorized
law enforcement activity.”

According to the news outlet The City
<https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/02/29/winnie-greco-fbi-raid/>, FBI agents
also Thursday raided offices of the New World Mall in Queens, where Greco
helped host a series of fundraisers for Adams’ 2021 campaign that generated
tens of thousands of dollars in contributions, some of which have raised
straw donor concerns
<https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/02/29/winnie-greco-fbi-raid/>.

An Adams administration official confirmed after the raids that Greco has
been placed on leave, but wouldn’t say whether she’s still drawing a salary
while away from her post. The official said the mayor’s office hasn’t been
contacted by either the FBI or federal prosecutors about the matter.

Greco did not return phone calls or text messages.

The raids on Gillespie Avenue were first reported
<https://bronx.news12.com/fbi-investigates-pelham-bay-home-owned-by-key-mayoral-aide>
by
News12 The Bronx. Video posted on X
<https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1763294630399922438> by
freelance journalist Oliya Scootercaster showed FBI agents exiting one of
Greco’s homes carrying boxes and bags that they loaded into awaiting SUVs.

A next-door neighbor told The News that the FBI agents first arrived at 6
a.m. Thursday.

“They have been in and out of the house. The whole road crossing was
blocked,” said the neighbor.
[image: Mayor Eric Adams and Director of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco are
pictured at the 21st Autumn Moon Festival and 12th China Day Festival on
Sunday, October 1, 2023. (Violet Mendelsund / Mayoral Photography Office)]Mayor
Eric Adams and Director of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco are pictured at the
21st Autumn Moon Festival and 12th China Day Festival on Sunday, October 1,
2023. (Violet Mendelsund / Mayoral Photography Office)

Last year, The City
<https://www.thecity.nyc/2023/11/30/investigation-inquiry-mayor-adams-aide-winnie-greco/>
first
reported Greco was being probed by the city Department of Investigation
based on a referral from the mayor’s office, but a DOI spokesperson would
not divulge what that investigation’s focus was at the time. A spokesperson
for DOI also declined comment Thursday.

The DOI probe came on the heels of The City’s reporting that Greco, who has
worked for Adams since he was Brooklyn borough president, asked a volunteer
for the mayor’s 2021 campaign to renovate her Bronx home for free before
getting a job in the Adams administration.

That outlet also reported that after that campaign volunteer was hired by
the city, Greco continued to demand he perform work on her home while on
the city’s time.  Additionally, the outlet reported Greco had sought a
$10,000 contribution to a nonprofit she founded from a businessman in
exchange for admission to a Chinese-themed government event at Gracie
Mansion hosted by Adams.
[image: FBI agents raded the Bronx home of Mayor Eric Adams' Director of
Asian Affairs Winnie Greco on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Sheetal Banchariya
for New York Daily News)]FBI agents carried out “court-authorized law
enforcement activity” at the Bronx home of Mayor Eric Adams’ Director of
Asian Affairs Winnie Greco on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. (Sheetal Banchariya
for New York Daily News)

When asked about the feds’ activity at Greco’s addresses, Adams spokesman
Fabien Levy said that “our administration will always follow the law.”

“We always expect all our employees to adhere to the strictest ethical
guidelines. As we have repeatedly said, we don’t comment on matters that
are under review, but will fully cooperate with any review underway,” Levy
added. “The mayor has not been accused of any wrongdoing.”
[image: New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Director of Asian Affairs Winnie
Greco are pictured at a celebration recognizing the Mid-Autumn Moon
Festival at Gracie Mansion on Friday, September 9, 2022. (Michael Appleton
/ Mayoral Photography Office)]New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Director
of Asian Affairs Winnie Greco are pictured at a celebration recognizing the
Mid-Autumn Moon Festival at Gracie Mansion on Friday, September 9, 2022.
(Michael Appleton / Mayoral Photography Office)

Property records show Greco bought one of the raided homes for $850,000
just this past Oct. 16. She holds a $680,000 mortgage on the property,
records show.

Greco earns $100,000 annually in her city job, according to payroll records.

In paperwork for the $680,000 mortgage, Greco identified herself as
residing at a second one-family home just across the street. That’s the
second property that was targeted by the feds Thursday.

Property records show Greco owns the second property with Nickolas Greco,
her husband.

It’s unclear which of the two buildings Greco permanently resides in.
[image: Mayor Eric Adams' Director of Asian Affairs, Winnie Greco, is
pictured at a Lunar New Year Celebration at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday,
February 8, 2022. (Michael Appleton / Mayoral Photography Office)]Mayor
Eric Adams’ Director of Asian Affairs, Winnie Greco, is pictured at a Lunar
New Year Celebration at Gracie Mansion on Tuesday, February 8, 2022.
(Michael Appleton / Mayoral Photography Office)

The feds’ interest in Greco comes as the mayor himself faces a federal
probe into his ties to Turkey. As part of that investigation, the FBI
raided the homes of Brianna Suggs
<https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/11/02/mayor-adams-abruptly-cancels-migrant-crisis-meeting-at-white-house-to-deal-with-a-matter-in-nyc/>,
a top fundraiser for Adams, and City Hall staffer Rana Abbasova
<https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/11/20/mayor-adams-aide-rana-abbasova-told-colleagues-to-delete-text-exchanges-hours-after-fbi-raid-source/>.
The FBI also seized the mayor’s electronic devices
<https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/11/10/fbi-agents-seize-mayor-adams-electronic-devices-amid-federal-probe-into-his-campaign/>
as
part of their investigation.

It’s unclear if the raid in the Bronx is tied to that probe into foreign
involvement in local politics.

Records show Greco likely has her own connections to a foreign government.

It first emerged last year that Greco served as a consultant to multiple
local Chinese interest groups
<https://nypost.com/2023/09/08/top-eric-adams-aides-company-got-chinese-communist-cash/>
that
receive funding from Beijing’s Communist government. And in a previously
unknown wrinkle, Greco also identified herself in a 2014 letter reviewed by
The News as the CEO of the New York Sino Agricultural Organization, a
Chinese investment group.

Under Greco’s leadership, the Sino organization was in talks in the
mid-2010s with the upstate municipality of Warwick about purchasing the
shuttered Mid-Orange Correctional Facility in hopes of turning it into an
“agricultural education center,” according to a lawsuit filed in Orange
County Supreme Court in 2021.

In 2013, Warwick Town Supervisor Mike Sweeton told the Times Herald-Record
<https://www.recordonline.com/story/entertainment/music/2013/07/01/warwick-celebrates-with-sister-city/45095824007/>
that
the Chinese government was actually behind the bid to buy the old prison.
Citing Sweeton, the local newspaper reported at the time that China’s
government was hoping to turn the closed prison into “an agricultural
university or a vocational school, where they can learn about American
agricultural technology.”

Sino’s bid to buy the old prison ultimately never came to fruition.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/html
Size: 16049 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.cpunks.org/pipermail/cypherpunks/attachments/20240301/d1e158ad/attachment.txt>