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Shop NowIt’s especially bad when a city official in charge of weeding out fraud and mismanagement gets busted for public corruption. The FBI took Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson into custody. They’ve had her under federal investigation for a while but swooped in to make the capture outside her home in Dorchester on Friday morning.
Boston official arrested
A progressive city council official is looking at five counts of wire fraud. Also, one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Local press is reporting that FBI special agents in Boston arrested City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson December 6, outside her suburban home.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts alleges that “in late 2022, Fernandes Anderson hired a staff member who was related to her.” That’s called “nepotism” but the crimes didn’t stop there. The trusted official “defrauded the city” by proposing a little “arrangement.”
The family members she hired were paid more than others doing the same job. They weren’t allowed to keep it. They “would kickback most of this bonus pay.”
It all started when the official got in a little jam, financially. “From in or about early to mid-2023, Fernandes Anderson was facing personal financial difficulty, which included missing monthly rent and car payments, an impending $5,000 civil penalty from the Ethics Commission, and incurring bank overdraft fees.”
The ethics penalty came from illegally hiring her son and sister. The sister was the one who got the $7,000 bonus.
Bathroom handoff
“On or about June 9, 2023, at approximately 4:11 p.m., Staff Member A texted Fernandes Anderson, ‘Bathroom.‘” Staff Member A is her sister. The text was to let the city official know that she would be “waiting in the bathroom to hand the $7,000 cash” over to her sister.
“Within seconds, Fernandes Anderson texted Staff Member A, ‘Ready.‘” She was on her way to the can. In more ways than she realized.
It’s definitely a no-no for Boston city councilors to hire immediate family members to their paid staff, yet “in 2022, Fernandes Anderson hired two such individuals.”
Her sister and her son. the official fired both after she was “informed by the Ethics Commission of a $5,000 fine relating to that incident.”
Last month, the already controversial official got a notice from the state’s Office of Campaign and Political Finance. They were writing to let her know that her campaign took in “contributions over the legal limit.” They also “failed to file deposit information in a timely manner.”
The Pro-Hamas official won’t be bothering her constituents for long. “Her behavior, as alleged 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 funds are in good and honest hands,” Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen declared.
