Former Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was sentenced to one month in prison on Friday after she pleaded guilty to public corruption charges.
Anderson’s one-month sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release and she was also ordered to pay back $13,000 in restitution. The prosecution had suggested one year and one day in prison.
Anderson pleaded guilty in May to one count of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning a program receiving federal funds. She was arrested on the charges in December 2024. She was accused of hiring a relative in November 2022, which violated the Massachusetts conflict of interest law, before giving them a $13,000 bonus months later under the condition that she also received some of the bonus. She then took a $7,000 kickback from the bonus and pocketed the cash in a City Hall bathroom.
“Tania Fernandes Anderson was elected to serve her constituents but instead, she deliberately used her elected position as a Boston City Councilor to serve herself,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley in a statement.
Anderson also admitted to filing fraudulent federal income tax returns in 2021, 2022 and 2023, omitting $11,000 in income she earned from a Massachusetts-based corporation, campaign funds she used for “personal enrichment” and the $7,000 kickback.
Anderson served as city councilor for District 7 in Boston after getting elected in November 2021. She resigned this past June, which took effect on July 4.
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