A close adviser to Mayor Eric Adams was suspended from his re-election campaign on Wednesday after giving a journalist cash tucked inside a potato chip bag.

纽约市长埃里克·亚当斯的一名亲密顾问于周三被其连任竞选团队停职，原因是她将一个装有现金的薯片袋送给一名记者。

The adviser, Winnie Greco, who was the mayor’s former director of Asian affairs at City Hall and one of his best fund-raisers, had returned to the campaign trail as a volunteer during Mr. Adams’s run for a second term. She had been at the center of controversy after the F.B.I. raided her homes last year as part of a federal investigation into possible Chinese government interference in the 2021 mayor’s race.

这名顾问叫郑祺蓉(Winnie Greco)，曾在市政厅担任市长的亚裔事务主管，也是他最优秀的筹款人之一。此次亚当斯竞选连任，她以志愿者身份重返竞选团队。作为对中国政府可能干预2021年纽约市长竞选的联邦调查的一部分，联邦调查局去年突击搜查了郑祺蓉的住所，让她一度处于舆论漩涡的中心。

On Wednesday, Ms. Greco attended an event with Mr. Adams in Harlem and gave more than $100 in a red envelope stashed inside the snack bag to a reporter for The City, according to an article in the online news outlet. The City promptly reported the incident to the city’s Department of Investigation, and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn contacted the newspaper’s lawyers, according to the newspaper’s account.

据网络新闻媒体The City报道，郑祺蓉周三与亚当斯一起在哈莱姆区参加了一场活动之后，把一个装有100多美元现金的红包放进一个零食袋送给了一名该媒体工作的记者。该媒体称，它立即将此事报告了纽约市调查局，布鲁克林的联邦检察官已与该媒体的律师取得了联系。

“We are shocked by these reports,” Mr. Adams’s campaign spokesman, Todd Shapiro, said. “Winnie Greco holds no position in this campaign and has been suspended from all volunteer campaign related activities.”

“我们对这些报道感到震惊，”亚当斯的竞选发言人托德·夏皮罗说。“郑祺蓉在连任竞选班子里没有正式职位，现已被暂停一切与竞选相关的志愿者活动。”

He said Mr. Adams has “always demanded the highest ethical and legal standards.”

他说亚当斯“始终要求最高的道德和法律标准”。

Ms. Greco’s lawyer, Steven Brill, said that it is common in Chinese culture to give cash to reporters “in a gesture of friendship and gratitude.”

郑祺蓉的律师史蒂文·布里尔说，在中国文化中，给记者送现金“以示友好和感激”很常见。

“I grant you this looks odd,” Mr. Brill said. “But I assure you that Winnie’s intent was purely innocent.”

“我承认这看起来很奇怪，”布里尔说。“但我向你们保证，温妮（郑祺蓉的英文名——译注）那样做完全没有恶意。”

He said Ms. Greco’s attempt to give money to the reporter might have been “misconstrued” and that she is “apologetic and embarrassed.”

律师说，郑祺蓉试图给记者送钱的做法有可能被“误解了”，而且她对此事“感到抱歉和尴尬”。

John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, declined to comment.

纽约东区联邦检察官办公室的发言人约翰·马祖利拒绝对此事置评。

Diane Struzzi, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Investigation, said the agency had been told of the episode by The City and declined further comment.

纽约市调查局的发言人黛安·斯特鲁齐表示，该局已从The City获悉此事，但未作进一步说明。

Ms. Greco’s actions could draw attention to the scandals marring Mr. Adams’s mayoralty and his re-election campaign. Several associates and supporters of Mr. Adams are expected to face corruption charges in coming days, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. The defendants are expected to include the mayor’s closest political ally and former chief adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, who has called Ms. Greco “my sister.”

郑祺蓉的行为可能会引起人们注意亚当斯担任市长期间及其连任竞选活动中的丑闻。据四名知情人士称，亚当斯的多名助手和支持者预计将在未来几天面临腐败指控。预计受指控者中将包括亚当斯最亲密的政治盟友和前首席顾问英格丽德·刘易斯-马丁，刘易斯-马丁曾把郑祺蓉称为“我的姐妹”。

F.B.I. agents searched Ms. Greco’s homes in the Bronx in February 2024. Even as concerns grew over her ties to China, the mayor kept her close.

联邦调查局特工在2024年2月搜查了郑祺蓉在布朗克斯区的住所。尽管人们越来越多地担心她与中国的关系，但亚当斯仍与她保持密切联系。

Ms. Greco resigned from his administration in October 2024, one of several departures after Mr. Adams had been indicted on federal corruption charges that were later dismissed by the Trump administration. This year, she reappeared at the mayor’s campaign events.

郑祺蓉已在2024年10月辞去市政厅的职务，她是联邦政府以腐败罪名指控亚当斯后离职的几名官员之一，这些指控后来被特朗普政府撤销。今年，郑祺蓉再次出现在市长的竞选活动中。

The reporter who was given the cash, Katie Honan, told The New York Times that Ms. Greco had texted her at the Harlem rally and asked to meet across the street next to a TD Bank.

收到现金的记者凯蒂·霍南对《纽约时报》说，郑祺蓉在哈莱姆区的集会上给她发短信，约她在街对面的一家道明银行旁边见面。

Ms. Honan, who said she had thought she was going to get information from Ms. Greco about the expected indictments, said they walked together into a Whole Foods store. There, Ms. Greco soon handed Honan the bag of chips, which the reporter said she did not want to accept. She tried unsuccessfully to return it.

霍南说，她原以为郑祺蓉会向她提供有关预计公布的公诉书的信息，于是她们一起走进了一家全食超市。进店后，郑祺蓉马上把一个薯片袋递给了霍南，但记者说她不想要，并试图把袋子还回去，但没有成功。

After the two parted, Ms. Honan opened the bag at her subway stop and discovered a red envelope stuffed with cash.

两人分别后，霍南在地铁站打开袋子，发现里面有一个装满现金的红包。

“I initially hoped it was a note, a tip, and then I looked and I go, ‘Oh my God, it’s money,’” said Ms. Honan, who instantly called Ms. Greco to try to return the at least one $100 bill and several $20 bills that she found inside the envelope. Ms. Greco told her that she had left the area, and laughed about it.

“我起初希望那是一张纸条，或是内幕消息，然后我打开一看，‘天哪，是钱’，”霍南说。她马上给郑祺蓉打了电话，试图把钱还给她，红包里至少有一张100美元和几张20美元的钞票。郑祺蓉对霍南说，她已经离开了那个地方，并对此事一笑了之。

After the incident, Honan returned to The City’s office and handed the envelope to her editors. The City then contacted the Department of Investigation. Federal prosecutors retrieved the chip bag and cash, The City reported.

事发后，霍南回到了The City编辑部，把红包交给了她的编辑。编辑部随后与调查局取得了联系。据The City报道，联邦检察官从编辑部拿走了薯片袋和现金。

The publication said in its story that it had asked Ms. Greco about her motivations for giving the money to Ms. Honan and that Ms. Greco replied that it was “cultural” and repeatedly apologized: “Can we forget about this?” she said. “Please don’t do in the news nothing about me.”

该网站在报道中称，他们曾问郑祺蓉给霍南钱的动机，郑祺蓉回答说是“文化原因”，并反复道歉：“我们能忘掉这件事吗？”她说，“请不要在新闻里提任何与我有关的事情。”

Ms. Greco began volunteering for Mr. Adams after he was elected Brooklyn borough president in 2013 and has been one of his closest confidantes. She was one of a handful of friends with him in Times Square in 2022, the night he was sworn in.

2013年亚当斯当选布鲁克林区区长后，郑祺蓉开始为他做义工，并一直是他最信任的密友之一。2022年亚当斯在时报广场宣誓就职的夜晚，郑祺蓉是少数几个陪同在场的朋友之一。

And when Mr. Adams launched his re-election campaign on the steps of City Hall in June, Ms. Greco was there, along with Brianna Suggs, the mayor’s top fund-raiser, whose home was also searched by the F.B.I.

今年6月，亚当斯在市政厅台阶上启动连任竞选活动时，郑祺蓉在场，在场的还有市长的首席筹款人布里安娜·苏格斯，联邦调查局也搜查了苏格斯的住所。

When Mr. Adams was asked in a television interview about his continued association with them, he said that Ms. Suggs had not been charged with a crime and that people deserved due process.

亚当斯在一次电视采访中回答他是否继续与她们保持联系的问题时说，苏格斯没被指控犯有任何罪行，人们应该得到正当法律程序的保护。

“If, in their own time, they want to volunteer to help the campaign in whatever way they know how to help, the worst thing we do is say they shouldn’t,” he said.

“如果他们自愿利用自己的时间，以任何他们擅长的方式为竞选提供帮助，那么我们最不应该做的就是拒绝，”他说。