BOSTON — The Boston City Council on Wednesday will meet for the first time since last week’s federal arrest of Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson.
The meeting, scheduled for noon at Boston City Hall, will be the last of 2024 and the first since Fernandes Anderson was charged Friday in federal court with five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Items on the agenda include the proposed formation of an ethics commission amid allegations that Fernandes Anderson hired a relative to her staff and “hatched a scheme to funnel taxpayer money into her own pocket.”
As part of the scheme, Fernandes Anderson allegedly agreed to pay the staffer a $13,000 bonus on the condition that part of it would be returned to her.
Fernandes Anderson accepted $7,000 in a cash kickback withdrawal from that staffer during a meeting in a bathroom in Boston City Hall on June 9, 2023, text messages obtained by federal investigators showed.
At the time of receiving the payment, Fernandes Anderson was facing a slew of financial troubles, according to prosecutors.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has called on Fernandes Anderson to resign.
“There’s a legal process to play out and everyone in our community deserves the right to a fair legal process,” Wu said. “With that being said, these charges are serious enough that I believe that it is of the nature that it will undermine the ability of the public to trust and have effective representation in this case.”
The Boston Herald reported that Chief Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell has ordered Fernandes Anderson to pay $5,000 by Jan. 31, 2025, to cover the cost of her assigned public counsel.
The Council on Wednesday was also expected to vote on property tax rates for 2025.
Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
©2024 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/7QOJU3BNCJERBNKJC5LWTBYFLU.png)
