Boston City Council member arrested by FBI on fraud allegations

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Boston city councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who represents District 7 in Boston, was arrested on Friday morning by the FBI after being indicted in an alleged kickback scheme, and is facing five federal counts of wire fraud and one federal count of theft.

U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy tells us,

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.

That same day, Fernandes Anderson pleaded not guilty in federal court in a case that involves allegedly raking in thousands of dollars in cash from a staff member after they were given a large bonus.

Oh, and the staff member is apparently a relative of Fernandes Anderson! And she didn’t even have the sense to do it all through a Ukrainian gas company!

Get this, Levy says Fernandes Anderson had planned to use the money she allegedly stole in that kickback scheme to pay a fine issued after a 2023 ethics investigation.

According to the indictment, the staff/family member’s bonus of $13,000 handed out to her brother and sister was more than double the normal amount, but “came with a hitch.”

Try to keep up with the corruption (allegations) here, cuz they’re stacked up like pancakes at the IHOP.

“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 explained.

“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 reads.