Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson to plead guilty to federal corruption charges

Gayla Cawley, Boston Herald on Apr 8, 2025

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BOSTON — Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson plans to plead guilty to federal public corruption changes, effectively admitting that she stole thousands of dollars from taxpayers in a kickback scheme that took place in City Hall, court records show.

Fernandes Anderson has signed a plea deal and intends to plead guilty, according to a filing made Tuesday in federal court.

“Defense counsel has informed the government that the defendant intends to plead guilty and has signed a plea agreement,” U.S. Attorney Leah Foley wrote in the filing.

Fernandes Anderson, a 46-year-old second-term city councilor, was arrested and indicted last December on five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

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

The court filing doesn’t elaborate on what charges Fernandes Anderson has agreed to plead guilty to. She did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fernandes Anderson is up for reelection this year, and a City Hall source said her City Council office has been nearly cleaned out.

Chuck Turner, the last Boston city councilor to be probed by the feds, was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to three years in jail in for pocketing a $1,000 bribe from an informant who claimed to be seeking a liquor license.

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