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Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson plea hearing set for May 5 in federal corruption case

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

BOSTON — A plea hearing has been scheduled in the federal public corruption case against Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who has agreed to plead guilty to two charges tied to a kickback scheme the feds say she carried out at City Hall.

Fernandes Anderson, 46, is expected to plead guilty to one count of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, at a change of plea hearing on May 5, according to a plea agreement the second-term councilor signed last week.

As part of the plea agreement, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley plans to recommend that Fernandes Anderson be sentenced to a year and a day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and pay $13,000 in restitution.

After her intention to plead guilty and the terms of the plea agreement were made public last week, Fernandes Anderson announced that she would resign from her $120,000 seat on the City Council. She has not shared when her resignation would take effect.

“I have decided to plead guilty and resolve the case brought against me,” Fernandes Anderson said in a statement last Tuesday. “I would like to apologize to my constituents, supporters, and all who have been impacted. Please forgive me. I will be resigning. It is the right thing to do.”

Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss the four other wire fraud charges that were leveled against Fernandes Anderson when she was federally indicted and arrested last December. The councilor had initially pleaded not guilty to all six charges.

A federal indictment states that Fernandes Anderson doled out a $13,000 bonus to one of her City Council staff members, a relative but not immediate family member, on the condition that $7,000 be kicked back to her. The handoff was coordinated by text and took place in a City Hall bathroom in June 2023, the feds said.

One of the dismissed charges pertained to allegations around “the defendant’s misuse of her campaign account” and “filing false and fraudulent tax returns,” per the terms of the plea agreement.

Fernandes Anderson signed fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS for tax years 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the plea agreement.

It is alleged that the councilor willfully omitted roughly $11,000 in income that she earned from a Massachusetts-based corporation for her 2021 tax returns; campaign funds that she used for her own personal enrichment from her 2022 and 2023 tax returns; and the $7,000 kickback that she received from the Council staffer from her 2023 tax return, the feds said.

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of incarceration up to 20 years, and the theft concerning a program receiving federal funds carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

Fernandes Anderson’s guilty plea may also impact her immigration status, according to the plea deal. She was the first African immigrant, Muslim-American and formerly undocumented immigrant elected to the City Council.

“Defendant understands that, if defendant is not a United States citizen by birth, pleading guilty may affect defendant’s immigration status,” the plea agreement states. “Defendant agrees to plead guilty regardless of any potential immigration consequences, even if defendant’s plea results in automatically being removed from the United States.”

 

It’s unclear whether sentencing will take place during the May 5 plea hearing.

If Fernandes Anderson chooses to remain in office a few days beyond that time, the city charter would not require that a special election be held to fill her District 7 Council seat.

The city charter calls for a special election to fill an open district council seat if there’s more than 180 days until the election.

May 8 would mark 180 days, meaning that the seat could remain vacant until next November when the regular election is held, or next January when councilors are sworn into office, if Fernandes Anderson does not resign by that time.

The district includes Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the South End.

A statement from City Council President Ruthzee Louijeune’s office notes that the city clerk has not received a notice of vacancy from Fernandes Anderson, which is needed to trigger a special election. It also mentions that the Supreme Judicial Court has made it clear that the Boston City Council does not have the authority to remove a councilor from office before the councilor is sentenced. Sentencing has not yet occurred.

Louijeune and Councilor Liz Breadon filed a home rule petition Monday that would waive a special election in the event of a vacancy more than 180 days prior to the general election and seat the winner of the District 7 race “as expeditiously as possible after election results have been certified.”

“I have engaged with elected officials and community leaders in District 7 to listen closely and advocate for the concerns they’ve raised,” Louijeune said in a statement. “Given the accelerated timeline, the risk of excluding residents from the process is significant. With the general election approaching later this year, it would be inequitable to ask the public to participate in such a hastened process that would leave voices out.”

The statement from Louijeune’s office notes that Secretary of State William Galvin opposes a special election, as do “state level officials who represent Roxbury,” state Sen. Liz Miranda and state Reps. Chynah Tyler and John Moran.

The city’s Elections Department was placed into state receivership after widespread ballot shortages occurred in last fall’s presidential election.

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