Tania Fernandes Anderson has had a messy tenure with the Boston City Council. Here are key events leading up to this week’s plea agreement of federal corruption charges:
— Nov. 3, 2021: Fernandes Anderson is elected to her first term on the City Council representing District 7 – Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the South End. She becomes the first Muslim, the first African immigrant and the first formerly undocumented person to serve on the council.
— July 2023: Fernandes Anderson admits to violating the state’s conflict of interest law by hiring her sister and son to full-time paid positions on her staff in 2022 and agrees to pay a $5,000 fine.
— Nov. 7, 2023: Fernandes Anderson is elected to her second term on the council, defeating opponent Althea Garrison, a former city councilor-at-large.
— November 2024: Fernandes Anderson is found to have violated “multiple provisions” of state campaign finance law and agrees to pay $1,750 to the state to settle the matter.
— Dec. 3, 2024: The Herald learns that Fernandes Anderson is the subject of a federal investigation, and subpoenas have been issued to City Hall in relation to the probe.
— Dec. 4, 2024: Fernandes Anderson vows to stay in office and “show up and fight” for her constituents despite being the subject of a federal investigation.
— Dec. 6, 2024: Fernandes Anderson is arrested and federally indicted on public corruption charges that saw her allegedly “embrace a culture of cashing in” by stealing thousands from taxpayers in an “egregious” kickback scheme at City Hall — allegations prompting the mayor and Council president to call for her resignation.
— Dec. 6, 2024: Fernandes Anderson pleads not guilty in federal court for allegedly pocketing $7,000 from a $13,000 bonus she doled out to a relative she had hired in late 2022 as a paid member of her Council staff.
— Dec. 6, 2024: The federal indictment reveals the handoff was coordinated by text between Fernandes Anderson and the relative, and made in a City Hall bathroom in June 2023.
— April 7, 2025: Fernandes Anderson signs a plea deal.
— April 8, 2025: Federal prosecutors file the plea deal in court.