OAN Staff Avril Elfie
9:32am – Saturday, December 7, 2024
A Boston City Council member has been arrested by FBI agents after being charged with involvement in an alleged scheme in which he secured thousands of dollars in cash from employees in exchange for large bonuses.
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Tanya Fernandez Anderson, 45, who represents Boston's 7th District, pleaded not guilty to the charges Friday in federal court.
The councilman faces five counts of federal wire fraud and one count of theft related to programs for which he received federal funds, according to court documents.
“These six felonies stem from an alleged kickback scheme in which she obtained thousands of dollars from taxpayers in exchange for bribes in which she gave large bonuses to employees.” Joshua Levy said a federal prosecutor.
In 2022, Fernandez-Anderson hired relatives as employees and “earned additional compensation, but received kickbacks for most of the total amount,” according to a court filing filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts. They say they defrauded the city when they signed the contract. This is the bonus payment. ”
The federal indictment alleges that Fernandez Anderson provided additional bonus money to “Employee A” with the knowledge that the employee would return some of the money to the City Council member. .
Investigators say the employee is a relative of Fernandez-Anderson and that the City Council member was making false claims.
Court documents say city councilors said the large bonuses to staff were compensation for volunteer work, since staff bonus information is publicly available.
Investigators said Employee A's $13,000 bonus was more than double the amount given to other employees.
“However, there was a problem with that huge bonus. Mr. Fernandez-Anderson told Staff A that he needed to give over $7,000 in cash to Mr. Fernandez-Anderson. Staff A agreed,” Levy said. said.
According to the indictment, the employee withdrew $7,000 from the bonus he received in a series of bank transactions in June 2023. The indictment further alleges that on June 9, 2023, the funds were secretly transferred to Fernandez Anderson.
“At approximately 4:11 p.m., Staff A texted Fernandez-Anderson “Bathroom,'' informing Fernandez-Anderson that Staff A was waiting in the bathroom to give Fernandez-Anderson $7,000 in cash. I informed you. Within seconds, Fernandez-Anderson sent a text message to Staff A that read, “Ready,” confirming that Fernandez-Anderson was ready to accept Staff A's $7,000 cash kickback. Shortly after these texts, Staff A handed approximately $7,000 in cash to Fernandez Anderson in a city restroom. City Hall,” the indictment states.
Officials said the investigation is still ongoing and no one else has been charged.
Boston City Council members set their own budgets and decide how much to spend on everything from salaries and bonuses to postage. In April 2023, five investigators discovered that Fernandez-Anderson had insisted on increasing her salary budget, just one month before her relatives received their bonuses.
“The bottom line is that we are not paying our employees properly,” Fernandez-Anderson told the city council.
She and several other council members advocated increasing the staff salary budget from $315,000 to $390,000.
It also proposed giving lawmakers discretion in determining the salaries of individual employees.
In 2023, the state Ethics Commission determined that Fernandez Anderson violated conflict of interest laws by hiring her sister and son at City Hall and increasing their salaries to $70,000 a year. She agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for the violation.
Investigators revealed Friday that a relative involved in the kickback scheme was hired after Fernandez-Anderson was hit with an ethics fine. The scheme is said to have been devised as a way to raise funds to pay fines.
“MS. According to the indictment, Fernandez Anderson chose to violate his fiduciary duties and defraud the City of Boston rather than find a legal means to repay his debts,” Levy said.
Last month, the state Office of Elections and Political Finance issued a letter to Fernandez Anderson's campaign, accusing it of failing to submit deposit information in a timely manner and accepting donations in excess of legal limits.
Despite the growing controversy, Fernandez-Anderson said earlier this week: I'm not thinking of resigning.”
After the arrest, Mayor Michelle Wu (D-Mass.) said Fernandez-Anderson had a “right to a fair legal process,” but urged the council member to resign.
“The serious nature of these charges will undermine public trust and prevent her from effectively serving the city,” Wu said in a statement. “I urge Congressman Fernandez Anderson to resign.”
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