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OAN Staff Abril Elfi
9:32 AM – Saturday, December 7, 2024
A Boston city councilor was arrested by FBI agents following an indictment alleging her involvement in a scheme which reportedly secured her thousands of dollars in cash from a staffer in return for granting a substantial bonus.
Tania Fernandes Anderson, 45, who represents District 7 in Boston pleaded not guilty to the charges in federal court on Friday.
Court documents stated that the councilor is facing five federal counts of wire fraud and one federal count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
“These six felony charges stem from an alleged kickback scheme that she orchestrated to obtain several thousand dollars in taxpayer money in exchange for a bribe she paid to a staffer who she gave a very large bonus,” U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said.
According to a court filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts, in 2022, Fernandes Anderson had hired a relative to be on her staff and then defrauded the city when she finagled a deal with the staffer to receive “additional compensation but would kickback most of this bonus pay.”
The federal indictment stated that Fernandes Anderson provided extra bonus money to “Staff Member A” with the understanding that the staffer would return a portion of the money to the councilor.
According to investigators, that staff member is a relative of Fernandes Anderson, which the councilor falsely claimed.
Court documents stated that since staff bonus information is publicly available, the councilor had said that the larger bonus for the staff member was to compensate them for volunteer work.
Investigators stated that Staff Member A’s $13,000 bonus was more than double the amount given to other staffers.
“But that supersized bonus came with a hitch. Ms. Fernandes Anderson told Staff Member A she would need to fork over $7,000 in cash back to Ms. Fernandes Anderson. Staff Member A agreed,” Levy said.
According to the indictment, in a series of bank transactions in June 2023, the staffer withdrew $7,000 from the bonus payment they had received. The indictment further alleges that the money was covertly handed over to Fernandes Anderson on June 9, 2023.
“At approximately 4:11 p.m., Staff Member A texted FERNANDES ANDERSON, ‘Bathroom’ to let FERNANDES ANDERSON know that Staff Member A was waiting in the bathroom to hand the $7,000 in cash to FERNANDES ANDERSON. Within seconds, FERNANDES ANDERSON texted Staff Member A, ‘Ready’ to confirm that FERNANDES ANDERSON was ready to accept the $7,000 cash kickback from Staff Member A. Shortly following these texts, Staff Member A handed FERNANDES ANDERSON approximately $7,000 in cash at a bathroom in City Hall,” the indictment states.
Officials said the investigation is still ongoing, and no one else has been charged.
Boston City Councilors set their own budget, deciding how much to spend on everything from salaries and bonuses to postage. In April 2023, just one month before her relative received the bonus, 5 Investigates discovered that Fernandes Anderson advocated for higher salary budgets.
“The point is that we’re not paying our staff properly,” Fernandes Anderson said in City Council chambers.
She and several other councilors advocated for raising their staff salary budget from $315,000 to $390,000.
They also proposed allowing councilors the discretion to determine individual staff salaries.
In 2023, the state ethics commission determined that Fernandes Anderson violated conflict-of-interest laws by hiring her sister and son to work at City Hall and increasing their salaries to $70,000 annually. She agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for the violation.
Investigators revealed on Friday that the relative implicated in the kickback scheme was hired after Fernandes Anderson faced the ethics fine. The scheme was allegedly devised as a way to fund the payment of the fine.
“Ms. Fernandes Anderson chose to violate her fiduciary duty and defraud the city of Boston, the indictment alleges, rather than find a legal means to pay off that debt,” Levy said.
Last month, the state Office of Campaign and Political Finance issued a letter to Fernandes Anderson’s campaign, citing failures to timely file deposit information and accepting contributions that exceeded the legal limit.
Despite the mounting controversies, Fernandes Anderson stated earlier this week, “I’m not thinking about quitting. I’m not thinking about stepping down.”
After the arrest, Mayor Michelle Wu (D-Mass.) said Fernandes Anderson has a “right to a fair legal process,” but urged the councilor to step down.
“The serious nature of these charges undermine the public trust and will prevent her from effectively serving the city,” Wu said in a statement. “I urge Councilor Fernandes Anderson to resign.”
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