Eric Adams Indictment: China Could Lose a Friend in New York

An investigation into the campaign finances of New York’s Mayor Eric Adams, which resulted in charges of bribery, fraud and soliciting illegal donations from abroad on Thursday, could strip China of an important friend in the United States.

Prosecutors allege that Adams took money from wealthy foreign businesspeople and at least one Turkish government official ahead of his 2021 campaign. Adams has already declared his innocence. City Hall did not immediately return a written request for comment.

Adams has been a successful example of the Communist Party building relationships deep within America and Newsweek reported last year on donations to his campaigns by groups in New York linked to China’s ruling party.

“Adams is just one target,” said Cheryl Yu, China Studies Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, a nonpartisan international affairs think tank.

Newsweek‘s reporting has shown that it has been a mutually beneficial relationship maintained through proxies on both sides. In New York and other major U.S. cities, the Communist Party holds sway over hundreds of pro-Beijing groups, whose members help promote the Chinese government’s narrative on core issues including democratic freedoms in Hong Kong and the political status of Taiwan.

Winnie Greco, one of Adams’ closest aides, is the mayor’s strongest link to these myriad Chinese business and cultural nonprofits. She has represented his office at their events and praised the contributions of their senior figures, who have in turn encouraged their members to back his campaigns with votes.

Adams himself has been a regular at quasi-political events organized by the overseas Chinese groups, which often had members of the Chinese consulate in attendance. Rights groups have accused Adams of inadvertently legitimizing Beijing’s overseas influence work by rubbing shoulders with pro-Beijing figures, one of whom was arrested last year for running a secret Chinese police station in Manhattan.

Adams’ office previously said his attendance was a demonstration of his support for the Chinese American community and not an endorsement of their political positions.

Greco’s role in Adams’ administration—officially City Hall’s director of Asian affairs—appeared in the indictment charging the mayor with wire fraud, bribery and solicitation of campaign contributions from foreign nationals, a violation of Federal Election Commission rules. The FBI searched two of Greco’s properties in the Bronx in February.

Adams was not the only New York politician with close Chinese connections in his administration. Linda Sun, a former chief aide to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, was charged this month for seeking to influence New York politics on Beijing’s behalf.

In May, Newsweek‘s review of hundreds of pages of City Hall emails, obtained under a freedom of information request, found that New York’s celebrated Asian-American parade was set up in 2022 by the founder of a media company that the Justice Department had designated a foreign agent of the Chinese government.

The parade was arranged in conjunction with Greco, who has worked with Adams since his time as Brooklyn borough president and who has traveled with him to China in the past.

The investigation into Adams’ administration began last November when federal agents raided the home of his top fundraiser Brianna Suggs, who worked on his successful mayoral campaign in 2021.

Last year, a Newsweek investigation revealed dozens of pro-Beijing figureheads—all suspected of involvement in the Communist Party’s overseas influence network—had donated at least $1 million to political campaigns in New York alone since the 1990s. Adams’ campaigns received nearly $40,000 in donations from 2015-2023. About two-thirds went toward his last run for City Hall.

Newsweek was not able to establish whether federal prosecutors suspected his campaign of accepting unlawful donations from Chinese foreign nationals. U.S. law forbids green card holders from making financial contributions if they are considered a “foreign principal” or to be acting on behalf of a foreign government without prior registration.