FBI arrests Democrat Boston City Councilor Tania Anderson on wire fraud and theft charges

Anderson, a Muslim Democrat and former illegal migrant, has been accused of hiring family members as salaried employee staffers and orchestrating a "bonus kickback scheme" in which she would give a relative extra pay in the form of a large bonus in exchange for the family member giving her a portion of the cash, court documents show.

Under Massachusetts state law, councilors are prohibited from hiring immediate family members to their paid staff. Anderson hired two immediate family members, in or around 2022, and was required to terminate their employment. She was fined $5,000 by the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission in the spring of 2023, according to the indictment.

Charging documents show that in Nov. 2022 Anderson hired a relative, who was not an immediate family member, and falsely misrepresented her relationship with the staffer, writing in an email to a City of Boston employee regarding the relative's hiring "for the record [sic] is not related to me," the indictment states.

In May 2023, Anderson informed the relative that she would provide them with an additional payment in the form of a large bonus under the condition that the relative returned a portion of the bonus to Anderson. The relative consented to the arrangement, according to the indictment.

On May 3, 2023, Anderson allegedly sent an email to a City of Boston employee to process bonus payments for her staffers. In the email, Anderson instructed the employee to give $13,000 to the relative, which was more than twice the total amount of all the bonus payments she gave to other staff combined. Anderson did not disclose the bonus kickback arrangement she made with the relative to the City of Boston employee, court documents state.

The bonus check was deposited into the relative's account at Santander Bank on May 26, 2023, It is alleged that the relative made separate cash withdrawals on three separate dates: $3,000 on May 31, 2023; $3,000 on June 5, 2023; and $4,000 on June 9, 2023, all at the direction of Anderson, authorities said. Anderson and the relative reportedly scheduled a meeting at a City Hall bathroom on June 9, 2023, following the final cash withdrawal. The relative allegedly gave $7,000 to Anderson, as per the indictment.

"The FBI arrested Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson for allegedly orchestrating a kickback scheme in which she stole thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for herself," said Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Boston. "Using public office for personal gain is a crime. Her behavior, as alleged in today's indictment, is a slap in the face to the hardworking taxpayers in the city of Boston who have every right to expect that the city's funds are in good and honest hands. This case illustrates how the FBI, and our partners are working hard every day to battle public corruption and the corrosive damage it does to people's faith in government."

Anderson was elected to a two-year term in November 2021 to serve as a councilor for Boston's District 7. She won re-election in November 2023. In a post on Instagram, Anderson described herself as "the first formally undocumented African born immigrant & first Muslim elected in the city of Boston." She repeated a similar self-description in a post on X.

Anderson has a contentious reputation among City Hall colleagues, who claim she has created an "unhealthy" environment due to her frequent outbursts at City Council meetings. Since her election, Anderson has vowed to "create a revolution" and "dismantle the White backdrop in America."

"People are intimidated by her, and that intimidation does work," a City Hall employee told Fox News earlier this year. "No one wants to disagree with Tania because she's unpredictable."

Anderson will appear in federal court in Boston at 2:15 pm Friday, the Justice Department said.