Latest news with #TaniaFernandesAnderson
Daily Mail
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Corrupt Democrat who STOLE from taxpayers forces colleagues to stand for awkward picture as she leaves in disgrace
A disgraced Boston city councilor who stole money from taxpayers forced her colleagues to take an excruciating final group photo as she stepped down. Tania Fernandes Anderson attended her final meeting on Wednesday ahead of her July 4 resignation and sentencing on federal corruption charges. 'Everyone knows the climate got tough, and you kept your head up high. You were professional. You were kind, intelligent, and you did the work for District 7,' she said at the meeting, according to WBZ News Radio. 'I thank you from the bottom of my heart,' she added, making no reference to the corruption scandal. Anderson will be sentenced next month after admitting federal charges for stealing $7,000 of taxpayer money. The councilor lied about being related to another city employee and then managed to secure them a $13,000 bonus, $7,000 of which she kept for herself. The stack of cash was handed over to her in inside the City Hall bathroom in June 2023. She remained on city council despite her guilty plea, due to state law that bars removing a member until after sentencing, which will happen on July 29. Anderson announced she would step down on July 4 and asked supporters to join her at the final meeting on Wednesday. At the meeting, Anderson called each city council member to the podium, where she personally thanked them for their work. 'My staff has a saying in the office that after working for me, they can last anywhere. I don't know what that means, I think it means that they love me,' she joked. She also gave the floor to any member who would like to speak, but none took her up on the offer. Anderson then had all of them come up to the podium for a photo. The disgraced councilwoman beamed brightly in the backrow sporting a blue silk and white outfit, while others awkwardly stood around her. A few appeared to have scowls on their faces. Some, however, did praise the councilwoman, with lawmaker Brian Worrell comparing her to Harriet Tubman, the Boston Herald said. Afterward, the meeting proceeded with Anderson offering 10 resolutions, including urging the city and state to build housing for young adults and support the rights of parents to bring their infants to work. Council members voted against her one of her resolutions, which were in her transition plan. The other nine prevailed. She also vowed to continue her service, saying: 'This is not an ending, it is a return to the base, to the roots, where real power lives, with all the people. 'I will still be fighting, not from this chamber but from the community, with you, always.' Prosecutors have recommended Anderson spend a year in prison and pay $13,000 in restitution. Fernandes Anderson lied about being related to the staffer when the hire was made, the indictment said. She also allegedly claimed the extravagant bonus was awarded to pay the staffer for previous volunteer work. Despite being paid $115,000 a year, Fernandes Anderson was facing financial issues, according to federal officials. Investigators believe that the pair decided Fernandes Anderson would award the staffer a bonus of $13,000 - more than double the amount given to other employees - and the staffer would then pay $7,000 to Anderson as a kickback. After the bonus was deposited into the staffer's bank account, Fernandes Anderson instructed the employee to make separate cash withdrawals from the bonus check, prosecutors said. The staff member allegedly made two separate withdrawals of $3,000 from two different bank locations in Boston on May 31, 2023 and June 5, 2023. The staffer then withdrew $4,000 from a third Boston bank on June 9, 2023, prosecutors said. 'On or about June 9, 2023, at approximately 4.11pm, Staff Member A texted Fernandes Anderson, "Bathroom" to let Fernandes Anderson know that Staff Member A was waiting in the bathroom to hand the $7,000 cash to Fernandes Anderson,' the indictment says. 'Within seconds, Fernandes Anderson texted Staff Member A, "Ready" to confirm that Fernandes Anderson was ready to accept the $7,000 cash kickback from Staff Member A. 'Shortly following these texts, Staff Member A handed Fernandes Anderson approximately $7,000 in cash at a bathroom in City Hall,' court documents say.
Sky News AU
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
‘Frankenstein-like concoction': Tania Fernandes Anderson pleads guilty
Newsweek Senior Editor-at-Large Josh Hammer says Tania Fernandes Anderson is an 'iniquitous' public official who ranks highly on the 'intersectional DEI totem pole'. 'It's like one of those Orwellian Frankenstein-like concoctions,' Mr Hammer told Sky News host Rita Panahi. 'The absolute worst ingredients producing this one particularly iniquitous and just generally horrific public official. 'Based on what I can see here on this clip, Rita, she's ranking pretty high in the intersectional DEI totem pole.'
Epoch Times
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson Pleads Guilty to Federal Corruption Charges
Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to federal charges of embezzling $7,000 in public funds on May 5 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. The second-term city councilor was arrested by federal authorities in December 2024 and signed a plea agreement with prosecutors in April of this year. At the John Joseph Moakley U.S. Courthouse in Boston, District Judge Indira Talwani read charges and explained the defendant's rights to Fernandes Anderson, confirming that she understood the legal documents. When the clerk of the court asked whether Anderson pleaded guilty or not guilty, the 46-year-old defendant wept and answered, 'Guilty.' She is scheduled for sentencing on July 29. Anderson said she would resign from the city council after signing the plea agreement in April. Related Stories 5/2/2025 5/2/2025 After the plea hearing on Monday, she told reporters outside the courthouse that she will complete her transitional plan, and step down before her sentencing. 'District 7 doesn't deserve not to have a vote in the budget,' she said. Anderson was elected to the Boston City Council in 2021. According to the She was the first African immigrant and Muslim-American elected to the Boston City Council, representing District 7, consisting of Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and part of the South End. She said that she was working on a 'District 7 workbook,' entailing every important policy and project in the district. 'From the beginning when I decided that I needed to agree to a plea, I have been planning, so as to make sure that my staff was ok, that my constituents were ok, for this is a softer landing, that my family, my children were secured and ok,' Anderson said. A Transaction in the Bathroom According to the indictment, Anderson hired a family member (Staff Member A) to her city councilor office in late 2022, at an annual salary of approximately $65,000. In November 2022, Anderson emailed a City of Boston employee regarding her hiring of the staff, falsely representing that she and the staff member were not related. In early May 2023, Anderson told Staff Member A, that she would give the staff member extra pay in the form of a large bonus, but that Staff Member A would have to give a portion of the bonus back to the defendant. Staff Member A agreed to the arrangement. On May 3, 2023, Anderson sent an email to a City of Boston employee, instructing the employee to process a bonus payment of $13,000 to Staff Member A. Staff Member A's bonus was more than twice as large as the total amount of all bonus payments to the city councilor's other staff combined. On May 26, 2023, Staff Member A deposited the bonus check. Later, at Anderson's instructions, the staff member made three separate withdrawals of the money. On June 9, 2023, Anderson and Staff Member A exchanged texts to arrange a meeting at a bathroom at the Boston City Hall, where Staff Member A would hand approximately $7,000 in cash to the city councilor. According to the U.S. District Attorney's The defendant has agreed to plead guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. According to the plea agreement, the prosecutor agreed not to charge her with four other counts of wire fraud. The U.S. Attorney recommended sentencing the defendant to 12 months and one day incarceration, 36 months of supervised release, a restitution of $13,000, and a mandatory special assessment of $200.
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Boston City Councilor pleads guilty to federal corruption charges
BOSTON (WWLP) – Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to wire fraud and theft connected to a federal funds program. Fernandes Anderson, 46, of Boston, was indicted in December 2024. She currently serves as City Councilor for Boston's District 7, including Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway, and a portion of the South End. She was first elected in November 2021 and was re-elected in 2023. Damage caused by suspected vandalism at South Hadley High School Charging documents stated that Fernandes Anderson hired two of her immediate family members as salaried employees on her staff in 2022, which city councilors are prohibited by law from doing. As a result, Fernandes Anderson was required to terminate their employment in August 2022. In May 2023, the Massachusetts Ethics Commission also notified Fernandes Anderson that it was seeking a civil penalty payment of $5,000 from her as a result of the violation. In November 2022, Fernandes Anderson emailed a City of Boston employee to notify them that she was hiring an employee. This employee was a relative of Fernandes Anderson, but she falsely reported that they were not related. The charging documents further stated that in early to mid-2023, Fernandes Anderson reportedly faced financial struggles, including the outstanding payment to the Ethics Commission. In May 2023, she told her employed relative that she would give them a large bonus if they gave a portion of it back to her. A $13,000 bonus check was processed for the employee without disclosing to other City of Boston employees the repayment arrangement. The check was deposited on May 26, 2023, and Fernandes Anderson instructed the employee to make three separate cash withdrawals over the following weeks. After the final withdrawal, Fernandes Anderson and her relative met in a bathroom at Boston City Hall on June 9, 2023, where she reportedly received $7,000 in cash from her relative. The signed plea agreement stated that Fernandes Anderson also used funds from her campaign account for her personal benefit, and for tax years 2021-2023, she used fraudulent federal income tax returns with the IRS. Fernandes Anderson omitted approximately $11,000 in income that she earned from a Massachusetts-based corporation from her tax return in 2021, willfully omitted campaign funds in 2022 and 2023, and willfully omitted the $7,000 kickback that she received from her relative from her 2023 tax return. On Monday, Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. Her scheduling is sentenced for July 29. WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Toronto Star
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Boston councilwoman pleads guilty to federal corruption charges in a kickback scheme
BOSTON (AP) — A Boston city councilor on Monday pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges after prosecutors accused her of taking most of an inflated bonus that she paid to a relative who worked for her. Tania Fernandes Anderson pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. In exchange, prosecutors dropped four wire fraud counts against the 46-year-old lawmaker, who in 2021 became the first African immigrant and Muslim-American elected to the council.
