A longtime aide to embattled New York Mayor Eric Adams has stepped down.
Winnie Greco, the city’s director of Asian Affairs, resigned Monday after more than a decade working closely with Adams as a liaison between him, in his different capacities, and the Asian American community. FBI agents raided Greco’s and several other Adams aides’ properties earlier this year.
“Both Winnie Greco and Mohamed Bahi today tendered their resignations. We thank them for their service to the city,” a spokesperson for City Hall said in a statement to NBC New York, referring also to Bahi, another aide who was part of the mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan on Tuesday charged Bahi, a former City Hall official, in connection with the ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of straw donations and the 2021 campaign to elect Adams, court documents show.
FBI agents raided Greco’s two Bronx properties in late February. Agents also searched her office at the New World Mall in Flushing, Queens. The mayor’s office said that during the ordeal, Greco suffered a “medical episode” that prompted federal authorities to request an ambulance to take her to the hospital. Greco was put on leave amid the investigation and returned to work in May.
Greco’s attorney, Steven Brill, said in an email that after her properties were searched and her devices were seized, he has “heard or been told nothing.” Her decision to resign was made “on her own volition.”
“It is a sad ending to her admirable career as a public servant where she spent the last 30 years dedicating herself to helping in particular the Asian community in New York,” Brill said in a statement.
Greco has been the conduit between the mayor and Chinese American communities in particular over the past few years, showing up in support of Adams at community events across Flushing and other enclaves. She has been connected to Adams since his days as Brooklyn borough president, even accompanying him on trips to China. And when Adams was sworn in as mayor, she was among the few officials appearing behind him on the dais in Times Square. Greco, who previously ran a food export business, was appointed to a special assistant role in the Adams administration, making $100,000 a year.
Adams was charged with bribery and wire fraud in late September. A 57-page federal indictment alleges he received $100,000 worth of free plane tickets and luxury hotel stays from wealthy Turkish nationals and racked up millions in illegal campaign contributions in exchange for favors for his foreign benefactors.
Greco is one of several top aides marred in controversies coinciding with the Adams investigation. It’s unclear, however, whether the raid of Greco’s properties was connected to Adams’ dealings with foreign officials.
Bahi faces a single count of witness tampering and a count of destruction of records, according to the complaint.
Rana Abbasova, another longtime aide of Adams’ who worked as the director of protocol in the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs, was fired Monday. Authorities raided the home of Abbasova, a liaison to the Turkish community, last year. Attorneys for Abbasova declined NBC New York’s request for comment.
