Boston City Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges of orchestrating a bribery scheme involving a family member she hired into her taxpayer-funded office.
Fernandes Anderson entered the plea during his initial appearance in a federal courtroom in Boston Friday afternoon, hours after his early-morning arrest by the FBI at his Dorchester home.
She is accused of paying a substantial bonus to a relative hired as director of constituent services. The bonus, federal officials said, served as a bribe for the person to secretly return some of the funds to Fernandes Anderson.
In an indictment unsealed Friday morning, federal prosecutors said the family member handed Fernandes Anderson $7,000 in cash in a Boston City Hall bathroom.
Appearing before Magistrate Judge Donald L. Cabell, Fernandes Anderson spoke only to indicate his statement and confirm that he understood a list of the judge’s instructions. He was released without bail.
Councilwoman Tania Fernandes Anderson speaks during a Boston City Council meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (Tréa Lavery/MassLive)Tréa Lavery/MassLive
Fernandes Anderson, a second-term Democrat who represents parts of the Fenway, Roxbury, Dorchester and South End neighborhoods, is charged with five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting scheme theft that receives federal funds.
Stephen Kelleher, the assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston division, said during a morning news conference that he has gotten rich while pretending his motivations were civic-minded.
“The conduct we allege in today’s indictment is a slap in the face to the hard-working taxpayers of the city of Boston,” he said. “No one is picking on Tania Fernandez Anderson and her inner circle. We believe this is a situation of her own making.”
Federal prosecutors said the scheme unfolded as Fernandes Anderson faced an uncertain financial future in early 2023. The counselor, who was paid $103,500 a year, had missed rent and car payments and incurred bank overdraft fees. A $5,000 fine from the Massachusetts Ethics Commission loomed on the horizon.
The commission had summoned Fernandes Anderson hiring his sister and son for full-time jobs to his council staff after taking office in 2022, in violation of laws banning the hiring of close relatives.
His sister’s starting salary of $65,000 was later increased to $70,000 with a bonus of $7,000 in June 2022. His son’s salary, initially $52,000, was increased to $70,000 eleven days after his recruitment
Under fire for ethics violations, Fernandes Anderson was forced to fire her family members.
Federal authorities did not name the family member involved in the alleged scheme. But the person, hired in late 2022, was not an immediate family member, they said.
In an email to a city employee, Fernandes Anderson maintained he had no relationship with the new hire, federal authorities said.
In the midst of his financial problems in the spring of 2023, Fernandes Anderson awarded the person a bonus of $13,000. The individual’s bonus, according to the indictment, was more than double the bonuses paid to the rest of his staff combined.
Fernandes Anderson told staff the larger bonus was for the person’s previous volunteer work, prosecutors said.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, whose office is prosecuting the case, described the bonus as a bribe to secure the family member’s cooperation with the kickback scheme.
Within two weeks of receiving the bonus, the person withdrew thousands of dollars at three different Boston bank locations. On June 9 of last year, the day of the final removal, the family member agreed to meet with Fernandes Anderson in a City Hall bathroom, prosecutors said. There, the person handed him $7,000 in cash.
The allegation that Fernandes Anderson was paid a wad of cash in a City Hall bathroom only “adds to the aggravation” of the allegations against her, Levy said.
The federal burden of aiding and abetting theft in connection with a program that receives federal funds is because Boston, like cities across the country, receives money from the federal government.
No one else has been charged in connection with the investigation, Levy said. But he declined to say whether charges might be brought against others involved in the scheme.