E-mail to city employee claiming new hire was not a relative. From the indictment.
City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson (Roxbury) was arrested this morning on federal charges that she hired a relative and demanded kickbacks from her - $7,000 in cash handed over in a City Hall women's room.
Fernandes Anderson, first elected in 2021, was arrested this morning, US District Court records show. Somebody tipped off WCVB, which got a camera crew to her house in time to video FBI agents arrest her.
Fernandes Anderson faces five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
The staff member whose job has gotten Fernandes Anderson in trouble was not a member of her immediate family, according to the indictment against her, so that person's hiring did not conflict with state ethics laws, unlike her sister and son, whose hiring led to a $5,000 fine by the state Ethics Commission.
However, the indictment continued, when Fernandes Anderson hired the third relative in November, 2022, at a salary of $65,000, she immediately hid that the new employee was related to her.
The indictment continues that Fernandes Anderson ran into personal financial difficulties starting in early 2023, including missed rent and car payments, bank overdrafts and the $5,000 state ethics fine, she hatched a plan to give the relative "extra pay in the form of a large bonus," part of which the employee would then have to give to Fernandes Anderson.
To cover up the scheme - since staff bonus information was public information - Fernandes Anderson told all her staff workers they would be getting bonuses - but that the relative, dubbed "Staff Member A" by the indictment, would be getting a larger bonus for alleged prior volunteer work.
On May 3, the indictment states, the councilor sent e-mail to a City Hall employee to process a $13,000 bonus payment to Staff Member A - more than twice as much as the entire total of bonuses for the rest of her staff.
The bonus was included in a May 26 salary check, which the employee deposited in their account at Santander bank. At Fernandes Anderson's direction, the indictment states, the relative then made three withdrawals, over a ten-day period, totaling $10,000.
At 4:11 p.m. on June 9, the indictment states, Staff Member A sent Fernandes Anderson a one-word text: "Bathroom." The councilor replied: "Ready."
The five wire-fraud abetting counts relate to the five specific alleged acts Staff Member A took - starting with depositing the check with the bonus, the three withdrawals and then the hand of cash. The federal-funds charge relates to the fact that the city of Boston receives more than $10,000 a year in federal funds.Shortly following these texts, Staff Member A handed Fernandes Anderson approximately $7,000 in cash at a bathroom in City Hall.
Innocent, etc.
Complete indictment (11.6M PDF).
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I'll gladly take this version.
