When the FBI last week raided two Bronx homes belonging to Winnie Greco, Mayor Eric Adams’ director of Asian affairs, agents also targeted a third site well known to food fans and residents of Queens: The New World Mall, at the bustling crossroads of Roosevelt Avenue and Main Street in Flushing.
Once a Caldor discount department store, the building now houses a food court where stalls sell dumplings, noodles and more, a vast J-mart supermarket specializing in Asian products, and a grand banquet hall where Adams has been a frequent guest, the Royal Queen.
So why would the FBI be interested? We can’t know for sure. But possible clues abound.
Since last summer, THE CITY has been investigating campaign contributions and fundraising events for Adams’ 2021 run for mayor tied to the New World Mall. Greco, who is the subject of a city Department of Investigation probe following THE CITY’s reporting, has been a regular presence in the building, while Adams has made a steady string of campaign and other appearances there.
On Tuesday, Lisa Zornberg, the administration’s chief counsel, continued to distance Adams from any ongoing investigations or reviews, saying there is “no indication” the mayor is the target of any investigation.
Here’s what we know so far:
Mall business employees donated to Adams in droves
Adams 2021 campaign filings show 121 contributions of precisely $249 apiece from workers at the Jmart supermarket and other low-wage businesses in the building. Donations of $250 or less from New York City residents qualify for $8 in public matching funds for every dollar contributed.
Some people listed as donors told THE CITY and Documented that they did not make the donations attached to their names, or were reimbursed, or were directed to make a contribution. It is illegal under state law to make such a straw donation in a campaign.
Vito Pitta, counsel to the Adams campaign, said in a statement: “All contributors to the campaign were informed of the rules governing campaign finance and were required to attest they understood those rules before contributing. Anyone who broke the law did so without the knowledge of the campaign.” He added that Greco “was a volunteer for the campaign.”
A spokesperson for Adams’ 2021 campaign, Evan Thies, defended the campaign’s practices when THE CITY and Documented first reported on the $249 donations last summer.
“The campaign always diligently follows all laws and rules on the collection of contributions, and also explicitly instructs campaign staff, volunteers, and contributors how to follow the laws,” Thies said.
“But it is impossible to respond to unverifiable claims attributed to anonymous sources. If any contributions were made incorrectly, the campaign would work with the campaign finance board — as it has before — to determine if refunds should be made. Until any proof of such claims is established or made officially, it is irresponsible for THE CITY to infer any wrongdoing by the campaign or its staff.”
Of more than 100 donors whose campaign records showed employment at the New World Mall or Jmart locations there and in Brooklyn, only seven were registered voters in New York.
The mall’s owners were involved
Lian Wu Shao is chairman of both the mall and Jmart, the mall’s major retailer. He gave $2,000 to the Adams 2021 campaign, while a relative and a Jmart co-owner, William Shao, gave $249, according to Adams campaign records.
An Aug. 8, 2021 “barbecue fundraiser” organized by Lian Wu Shao logged $54,828 from 231 contributors, many of whom were listed as Jmart cashiers or other modestly paid workers at the New World Mall.
The event’s donor list, sent by the Adams campaign to the Campaign Finance Board, includes a woman — identified in a campaign filing as a restaurant deliveryman — who told THE CITY she never donated. Another was a mall employee who told THE CITY she was paid back in cash after writing a check for Adams at her workplace.
Most of the donations were for either $249 or $250, which the campaign submitted to seek more than $364,000 in public matching funds.
Seven other donors listed in the Adams campaign filings as contributing at the Shao barbecue told THE CITY that they never gave money to Adams 2021, contributed at a location other than the barbecue, or donated to the campaign but could not recall ever attending a house party.
New World Mall’s former co-owner, Tian Ji Li, is a major political player in New York City’s Chinese American community. Li serves as the president of the Alliance of Asian American Friends, a coalition of provincial and business associations that sources say Greco helped found, and was referred to in the Chinese-language press as the head of the Adams campaign office in Flushing.
He personally tried donating $8,100 to Eric Adams’ 2021 campaign but received two refunds for exceeding the $2,000 limit.
Greco worked in an Adams campaign office inside the mall
While the Alliance operated, Greco worked for months from an Adams campaign office inside the New World Mall, according to sources.
According to a former aide, from June to October 2021 Greco also worked for Adams at an office around the corner owned by Tian Ji Li. Adams’ campaign filings show only a single $1,800 payment covering 22 days of the June 2021 rent on that space.
Greco was not paid by the campaign, or by Adams’ Brooklyn borough president’s office, which identified her as a “volunteer” ambassador to Asian communities. Her niece, Wai Ying Cheng, who now works in the mayor’s office as a “special assistant” at a salary of $120,000, shows up on 2021 campaign expenditures as a “campaign consultant.”
Adams raised big money at the Royal Queen hall
The mall’s third-floor banquet hall has long been a popular spot for politicians and community groups. Adams frequented the location as a candidate, riding an escalator surrounded by cheering supporters in May 2021 and, an employee recalled, making another appearance in August 2021.
The Adams campaign reported spending $50,093 at the Royal Queen on eight events between 2018 and 2021, mostly on fundraising, according to campaign filings and receipts obtained by THE CITY. The Adams 2025 campaign has not reported spending any money at the restaurant.
The Adams event on April 18, 2021, raised nearly $36,000 — much of it in contributions of $249 each from donors listed, including from cashiers and waiters at businesses in the building.
Li also hosted another Adams fundraising event in August that year at the same location, with 60 attendees, and another in December, after Adams had already won the mayoralty. Two major Chinese-language newspapers, and two sources in the Chinese-American community, said the December event raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the transition.
As mayor, in September 2022 Adams spoke at an event at the Royal Queen hosted by the American Changle Association, the New York Post reported. The event honored the inauguration of James Lu as the association’s president. Lu’s brother, Harry, was arrested by the FBI in April 2023 and along with a co-defendant charged by the Brooklyn U.S. attorney with operating a Chinese police spy station out of Changle’s Chinatown office.
Adams’ most recent announced appearance at the mall was at a Feb. 16 Chinese New Year banquet for the USA Jiangzhe Chamber of Commerce & Industry, according to his official schedule.
Greco was a steady presence at Adams Royal Queen events. Li Tian Ji hailed Adams and Greco at a July 2, 2021 Alliance of American friends “thank you” banquet following Adams’ win in the decisive June mayoral primary, with over 100 attendees.
Greco, Li and the future mayor sat down next to each other at the main table, a video of the event shows. The event was not an official campaign event, an Adams representative said.
“Big applause for Winnie Greco, who for the past three years has been a liaison, she’s been our ambassador, she’s the one who talks to us, and she’s the one who promotes Adams in our community,” Li, who formerly employed Greco at one of his Chinatown stores, said to the crowd in Mandarin. “Thank you! You are the most important one.”