Sign up for the Today newsletter
Get everything you need to know to start your day, delivered right to your inbox every morning.
Boston city councilor arrested on federal public corruption charges, pleads ‘not guilty’
Tania Fernandes Anderson allegedly received about $7,000 through a kickback scheme involving a family member who she hired to be part of her staff.
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was arrested on federal public corruption charges Friday morning, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Fernandes Anderson was indicted on five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, according to the indictment unsealed Friday.
Prosecutors say Fernandes Anderson conceived of and proposed a kickback scheme involving a family member who she had hired as part of her staff. The scheme involved giving out a large bonus to the family member with the agreement that $7,000 of it would be handed back to the councilor.
Advertisement:
“When her constituents elected Ms. Fernandes Anderson, she had a fundamental obligation to act with the utmost integrity. Public officials who line their pockets with taxpayer money erode the trust and confidence of the public in the officials who serve them,” U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy said at a press conference Friday morning.
On Wednesday, Fernandes Anderson — who represents District 7 consisting of Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and part of the South End — acknowledged reports about the federal investigation, but said she did not intend to resign, Boston.com previously reported.
She was taken into custody shortly after 6 a.m. Friday morning, Stephen Kelleher, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office said.
Advertisement:
Fernandes Anderson made a brief appearance Friday afternoon in federal court, pleading “not guilty,” The Boston Globe reported. A public defender, Scott Lauer, was appointed on her behalf, and a status hearing was set for Jan. 29.
She was released on conditions that include regular reporting to probation officials, staying in Massachusetts, surrendering her passport, and staying away from any witnesses, per the Globe.
“In this commonwealth and in this country, our elected officials work for us, not the other way around,” Kelleher said. “The behavior we allege in today’s indictment is a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers in the city of Boston who have every right to expect that the city’s coffers are in good, and honest hands.”
In 2022, she admitted to hiring her sister and her son to paid positions on her staff, the State Ethics Commission said at the time. Fernandes Anderson was required to terminate their employment in August 2022 and later ordered to pay a $5,000 civil penalty.
Another family member was hired around November 2022, but Fernandes Anderson emailed a city employee about their hiring and said they were not related, according to the indictment. Prosecutors specified that this person was not an immediate family member of Fernandes Anderson.
Advertisement:
By early to mid-2023, Fernandes Anderson was struggling to make ends meet. She was missing monthly rent and car payments, incurring bank overdraft fees, and was facing the impending $5,000 civil penalty, according to the indictment. She told the new staffer that she would give extra pay to them in the form of a large bonus, but that they would have to give a portion of that back to her. They agreed to the arrangement.
Around this time, Fernandes Anderson also began requiring her staff to sign non-disclosure agreements as a condition of employment. They were barred from disclosing any “confidential information” to anyone without Fernandes Anderson’s permission, according to the indictment. Levy said that this practice stuck out to investigators as “unusual.”
Staff bonus information was publicly available, so Fernandes Anderson informed her staff in May 2023 that they would be receiving bonuses. She told them that the staff member involved in the scheme would be getting a larger bonus because Fernandes Anderson wanted to pay them for their prior volunteer work, according to the indictment. That bonus was $13,000, more than twice as large as the total amount of all bonus payments to her other staffers combined.
Advertisement:
The city issued the bonus check to the staff member in late May 2023, which amounted to about $10,200 after taxes. They deposited the check to a bank account and, on Fernandes Anderson’s instructions, made a series of separate cash withdrawals on separate dates. A total of $3,000 was withdrawn on May 31, another $3,000 was withdrawn on June 5, and $4,000 was withdrawn on June 9, according to the indictment.
Fernandes Anderson and the staff member arranged to meet in a bathroom in City Hall on June 9 so that they could give the councilor about $7,000 in cash. At 4:11 p.m., the staff member texted Fernandes Anderson the word “bathroom,” to which she replied “ready,” according to the indictment. The handoff took place shortly afterwards.
An investigation is ongoing. No one else has been charged so far.
Last month, the Office of Campaign and Political Finance said that Fernandes Anderson was found to have violated multiple campaign finance law provisions. Her campaign committee failed to disclose some contributions in a timely manner, and also collected $1,750 excess contributions in 2023 and 2024. Fernandes Anderson was ordered to send that amount back to the state, which her campaign committee did, She also agreed to appoint a new treasurer for the committee.
The committee was found to have clarified certain expenditures too late, only doing so after multiple letters, phone calls, and emails from the OCPF.
Fernandes Anderson’s committee received a $100 excess contribution from the campaign committee of state Sen. Liza Miranda. That $100 was refunded to Miranda’s committee.
Advertisement:
The OCPF determined that no further action was required from Fernandes Anderson to remedy the situation, but warned that “further instances of noncompliance may result in referral to the Attorney General.”
Sorry. This form is no longer available.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com