Who is Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson’s husband, Tanzerious?

A Boston City Council member was arrested on federal public corruption charges, and her husband is already in jail for murder charges.

City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was arrested Friday morning on federal corruption charges. Fernandes Anderson is accused of taking a $7,000 kickback and hiring family members. Her husband, Tanzerious Anderson, is already in jail after he was found guilty of murder in the first degree in 2002.

What happened to City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson?

At about 7 a.m. Friday, FBI Boston posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, that special agents had arrested a city councilor “on federal public corruption charges.” The agency held a press conference at 9:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Boston.

Fernandes Anderson, 45, who represents Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and parts of the South End, was charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft around programs receiving federal funds.

The indictment alleges that Fernandes Anderson started a kickback scheme after hiring a relative who “was not an immediate family member” in 2022. Fernandes Anderson is also accused of hiding that she was related to the staff member.

She allegedly agreed to pay the familial staffer a large bonus on the condition that a portion would be returned to her.

According to text messages, the city councilor allegedly accepted $7,000 in cash back during a meeting in a bathroom at Boston City Hall in 2023.

“All of that money was funded by the taxpayers of the city of Boston,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced at the press conference.

The city councilor allegedly told her staff that they would all be receiving bonuses but that the staff member she’s related to would receive a larger amount because she wanted to pay them “for their prior volunteer work.”

At the time, Fernandes Anderson was allegedly having money problems, partially due to a $5,000 sanction imposed by the State Evidence Commission and other “financial hardships.” She is paid $115,000 a year as a city councilor.

“When faced with financial hardship and that $5,000 State Evidence Commission sanction, Ms. Fernandes Anderson chose to violate her fiduciary duty and fraud the city of Boston, the indictment alleges, rather than finding the legal means to pay off that debt,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “Public service is a privilege, and all of us in public service have a duty to act with integrity and fairness in all that we do.”

Fernandes Anderson is scheduled to appear in Boston federal court at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Why is Tanzerious Anderson in jail?

Tanzerious Anderson, the city councilor’s husband, is in jail for murder in the first degree, armed robbery and illegal possession of a firearm. He was found guilty as a principal and joint venturer in the crimes.

According to court documents, on March 25, 2000, Anderson and 16-year-old Joleena Tate broke into a condominium in North Conway, New Hampshire, that belonged to Tate’s father. They stole firearms and ammunition, including a .357 Magnum revolver.

Two days later, Anderson brought Tate to the home of Edward Gauthier, whom he knew through Jason Robinson, the man Anderson was working with.

“The group was in Gauthier’s room playing video games and together smoked three or four ‘blunts,’ cigars stuffed with marijuana,” the court documents read. “At some point in the evening, as the defendant was preparing to leave, Tate asked him if he wanted to ‘rob someone.’ The defendant agreed.”

The court documents state that Anderson, Tate and Robinson decided to contact a Lebanese immigrant and ask him to meet. Tate would bring the victim to the apartment in Brighton, where Anderson and Robinson would be waiting.

The victim took Tate out to dinner, and then Tate requested that he drive her to the designated building. When Anderson and Robinson showed up, Tate said to the victim, “We’re being robbed,” and then walked to a nearby playground.

A few minutes later, Tate heard “a very loud noise,” and when she met up with her accomplices, Anderson said “He’s murked (dead)” and that “I got my body for the summer.”

“The medical examiner determined that death was caused by the victim’s heart stopping as a reflexive reaction to the gunshot, and that death was instantaneous,” the court document reads.

Anderson was arrested on April 4, 2000. In court, he had argued that the victim died “instantaneously” and that with no evidence of defensive wounds, there was insufficient evidence.

There was another trial in 2017, but Anderson was still found guilty.