Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was $19K in debt at time of $7K kickback

Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was nearly in debt in the same year that she pocketed a kickback in a City Hall bathroom that in recent days resulted in her federal corruption conviction society records show Fernandes Anderson owed of a loan from what appeared to be a apprentice loan provider at the time according to a financial disclosure message she filed with the city clerk last year and which covered the year of Her debt loan or liability is seemingly listed as being to Naviance which describes itself as an American college and career readiness utility although the handwritten name of that debt provider was misspelled by the councilor How much if any of the debt Fernandes Anderson still owes is unclear as financial disclosure forms covering last year are not due until May according to City Clerk Alex Geourntas On her calendar year form Fernandes Anderson wrote that she was under a deferring payment plan for the loan Her form lists no assets The loan doesn t appear on her financial disclosure announcement for the calendar year which would have been filed in late May She checked off the not applicable box under the debt loan or liability section Fernandes Anderson graduated from the John D O Bryant High School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury and attended Springfield College At her May plea hearing in Boston federal court where she pleaded guilty to two federal corruption charges Fernandes Anderson explained her coaching level was certain college in response to a series of questions from the judge In her Council biography she also describes herself as the proud mother of a U S Marine and a young emerging artist Fernandes Anderson was the first Muslim African immigrant and formerly undocumented person to be elected as a city councilor She became a naturalized citizen in was first elected to the City Council in November and took office in January Fernandes Anderson was federally indicted and arrested last December on six charges four of which were dropped as part of a plea deal she accepted with the U S Attorney s office The indictment states that Fernandes Anderson carried out a kickback scheme in the spring of The councilor doled out a bonus to one of her staff members a relative but not immediate family member on the condition that be kicked back to her The cash handoff was coordinated by text message and took place in a City Hall bathroom in June the indictment states Upon her arrest and indictment prosecutors stated the kickback scheme may have been motivated in part by the personal financial difficulty Fernandes Anderson is deduced to have been facing in early- to mid- That included missing monthly rent and car payments an impending fine from the state Ethics Commission connected to the councilor hiring two immediate family members and giving them raises and incurring bank overdraft fees from maintaining low daily bank balances court records show Fernandes Anderson who represents Roxbury-centric District was being paid a salary in the kickback year She is now paid after councilors saw their pay hiked for a second straight year this past January The councilor has mentioned she plans to officially resign after the City Council budget process which typically wraps up in late June with a vote She communicated reporters outside the federal courthouse after her conviction that she opted to stay on until that time because the residents of District should have a budget vote Related Articles Boston Mayor Wu launches campaign effort to get her preferred city councilor on ballot Battenfeld Buck stops with Mayor Wu on deadly bus accident Boston Police union responds to alleged City Hall love triangle mess Especially troubling Boston Mayor Michelle Wu Josh Kraft clash over cars city finances in first mayoral forum Boston s White Stadium soccer plan opponents extend legal fight appeal court s ruling Fernandes Anderson has been absent from the last two weeks City Council meetings She cited a family-related clinical crisis in two absence letters that were filed with the city clerk and read into the record at the end of each meeting Her sentencing has been scheduled for July As part of the plea deal U S Attorney Leah Foley recommended that Fernandes Anderson be sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay in restitution A federal judge at Fernandes Anderson s plea hearing warned the councilor that she was not obligated to heed the prosecution s recommended sentencing and could choose to impose a harsher punishment