Northeast
FBI arrests Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson on public corruption charges
FBI special agents in Boston arrested City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson Friday morning on public corruption charges.
Fernandes Anderson was under investigation by federal authorities and FBI agents were seen outside her home in Dorchester this morning as she was taken into custody, according to WCVB. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu is now calling on her to resign.
The Democrat lawmaker is facing five counts of wire fraud and one count of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds, a court filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts says.
Federal prosecutors allege that in late 2022, Fernandes Anderson hired a staff member that was related to her and then defrauded the city by proposing an arrangement in which the person would receive “additional compensation but would kickback most of this bonus pay.”
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Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson was arrested Friday morning, according to media reports, (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
“From in or about early to mid-2023, Fernandes Anderson was facing personal financial difficulty, which included missing monthly rent and car payments, an impending $5,000 civil penalty from the Ethics Commission, and incurring bank overdraft fees, which resulted in Fernandes Anderson maintaining low daily bank balances,” read the filing, which was obtained by the Boston Globe.
“On or about June 9, 2023, at approximately 4:11 p.m., Staff Member A texted Fernandes Anderson, “Bathroom” to let Fernandes Anderson know that Staff Member A was waiting in the bathroom to hand the $7,000 cash to Fernandes Anderson,” the court document continued. “Within seconds, Fernandes Anderson texted Staff Member A, “Ready” to confirm that Fernandes Anderson was ready to accept the $7,000 cash kickback from Staff Member A.
“Shortly following these texts, Staff Member A handed Fernandes Anderson approximately $7,000 in cash at a bathroom in City Hall.”
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“I do not have any comment. You guys know exactly why I cannot comment,” Fernandes was quoted by WCVB as telling reporters on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at Boston City Hall. (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The filing also says Boston City Councilors were not allowed to hire immediate family members to their paid staff, yet in 2022, Fernandes Anderson hired two such individuals.
Prosecutors say Fernandes Anderson later fired those two employees and was informed by the Ethics Commission of a $5,000 fine relating to that incident.
Then last month, Massachusetts’ Office of Campaign and Political Finance informed her campaign that it took contributions over the legal limit and failed to file deposit information in a timely manner, WCVB reported.
“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,” Special Agent in Charge Jodi Cohen said in a statement. “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.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement that “Like any member of the community, Councilor Fernandes Anderson has the right to a fair legal process.”
“But the serious nature of these charges undermines the public trust and will prevent her from effectively serving the city. I urge Councilor Fernandes Anderson to resign,” Wu added.
Tania Fernandes Anderson, was the first Muslim, first formerly undocumented person and first African immigrant to hold office in the city. (Lane Turner/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Anderson represents District 7, which includes the Boston neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and a portion of the South End.
“Councilor Anderson was elected to the Boston City Council on November 2, 2021, becoming the first African immigrant and Muslim-American elected to the Boston City Council,” reads a bio of her on the City of Boston’s website.
“Before serving as Councilor, Tania was the Executive Director of Bowdoin Geneva Main Streets, a parent advocate with the Boston Public Schools, program manager for a homeless women’s shelter, a business owner, and a child social worker. She has also been a foster mom to 17 kids while raising two biological children,” the bio added.
Anderson is expected to appear in federal court in Boston later this afternoon.
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Northeast
From palace to prison: Venezuelan strongman Maduro locked in troubled Brooklyn jail
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Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are spending their days for the foreseeable future at a notorious jail in Brooklyn known for housing high-profile defendants awaiting trial in New York City.
The Metropolitan Detention Center, known as MDC Brooklyn, is a sprawling, industrial-style facility that has faced a series of scandals in recent years involving assaults and poor prison conditions. Maduro, the Venezuelan leader arrested in his home in Caracas by the U.S. military over the weekend, is now being held at the jail on narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine importation and weapons charges.
MDC Brooklyn currently holds more than 1,300 inmates, according to the Bureau of Prisons. A BOP representative confirmed to Fox News Digital that Maduro and his wife were among that figure.
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Federal officers stand guard outside the Department of Justice next to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after the U.S. captured Nicolás Maduro and his wife, in New York City, Jan. 3, 2026. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
MDC Brooklyn inmates include little-known defendants and prominent ones, and they face a range of mild to serious charges.
Maduro is likely to be held in what is known as the “VIP section” of the jail, according to Renato Stabile. Stabile is a New York-based criminal defense lawyer who represented former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was also held in MDC Brooklyn before he was freed in December as a result of Trump granting him a controversial pardon.
Stabile told Fox News Digital the VIP section is part of the east side of the jail, where high-profile figures like Hernández, rap artist Sean “Diddy” Combs and convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried were once held. Others at MDC Brooklyn include Luigi Mangione, the 27-year-old accused of murdering a top health insurance CEO. Jeffrey Epstein’s associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, was also held there.
People celebrate in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Jan. 3, 2026, after the capture of Nicolás Maduro. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)
Those on the east side will be “hanging out together every day and watching TV together and playing pingpong together and doing whatever they do on that side,” Stabile said. He said the west side, where general population inmates are held, might be more crowded but that treatment of them was likely otherwise the same.
One reason inmates are segregated based on their notoriety could be that they are more vulnerable to violence or extortion, he said.
MDC Brooklyn is a male and female jail, but the inmates are not intermixed by sex, so Maduro and his wife might not be able to interact much there, except during joint meetings with their lawyers.
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NYPD officers stand guard on a blocked road outside the MDC Brooklyn on Jan. 5, 2026, in New York City. (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
Maduro is being represented by New York-based attorney Barry Pollack, who previously represented WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Maduro and his wife pleaded not guilty in court on Monday and now await their next court appearance, slated for March 17.
MDC Brooklyn has repeatedly come under scrutiny for its troubles, including a week-long power outage in the winter of 2019 that left inmates in freezing conditions, multiple inmate murders and assaults in 2024, and several allegations of inhumane conditions, including inadequate medical staffing and unsanitary food.
Stabile said, in his view, the facility is “run fairly efficiently.”
“But I can tell you that the east side is run a lot more efficiently than the west side, just because there are less people,” he said, noting that lawyers can see their clients with less hassle.
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Boston, MA
Boston City Hall intruder who stole from employees nabbed by police, after shoplifting arrest: BPD
Boston Police said they have nabbed the masked suspect who entered private office suites in City Hall during work hours and stole wallets stuffed with cash and credit cards from multiple employees.
The Boston Police Department identified Darrin O’Neil, 60, of Lowell as the suspect involved in the City Hall thefts, which occurred last month, on Dec. 1.
O’Neil was already being held after a prior shoplifting arrest at DICK’s House of Sport on Boylston Street when he was identified as the alleged perpetrator of the City Hall crime, following what the cops described as an “extensive investigation,” Boston Police said on Wednesday.
Three City Hall employees reported that their wallets, which contained cash, credit cards, health savings account cards, and personal ID were stolen from their offices, per Boston Police reports.
One woman who had her wallet snatched out of her purse with two credit cards, her City Hall ID, Massachusetts driver’s license, insurance and library cards, and $100 in cash told police two of her coworkers saw an unknown man “in the area who was wearing a brown beanie, dark jacket, sweatpants, and a blue face mask.”
Two other employees told police that not only were cash and credit cards stolen from their offices, but the thief used the cards to rack up hundreds of dollars in unauthorized purchases — totaling $1,500 at Macy’s and Walgreens.
The incident led to calls from two city councilors, Ed Flynn and Erin Murphy, for the city to tighten up security protocols in light of the intrusion and theft, which occurred during work hours and was described by both as a “security breach.”
Mayor Michelle Wu’s office said a day later that steps have already been taken to increase security after the incident, which involved unauthorized access to “several” office suites that are restricted to authorized personnel only.
Municipal Protective Services, which provides security for city buildings, has increased internal patrols throughout City Hall as a result of the incident, the mayor’s office said.
O’Neil was arrested on shoplifting charges on Dec. 27 at 760 Boylston St., after he was seen inside DICK’s House of Sport concealing merchandise, police said.
Police said they had responded to the store at 11:39 a.m. for a report of a theft in progress.
While police approached, O’Neil was seen exiting the sporting goods store. The cops “were able to quickly stop the suspect and could see clothing with tags affixed to them inside of a bag,” police said.
During a search, about $408 of stolen merchandise was recovered, police said.
For the shoplifting incident, O’Neil was arrested and charged with larceny under $1,200 and being a common and notorious thief, police said.
After further investigation, police said they determined that O’Neil had seven active warrants for his arrest for charges of four counts of larceny from a building, three counts of receiving stolen property under $1,200, two counts of larceny of a credit card, shoplifting by asportation, credit card fraud under $1,200, and shoplifting by concealing merchandise.
After O’Neil was identified as the alleged City Hall thief, police said they sought additional criminal complaints in Boston Municipal Court on charges of two counts of larceny from a building, two counts of credit card fraud under $1,200 and being a common and notorious thief.
O’Neil is expected to be arraigned at Boston Municipal Court at a later date.
Following BPD’s announcement on Wednesday, Flynn said “larceny and retail theft must be a top priority for our city.”
“We must have zero tolerance for any type of theft and those arrested must be held accountable in our court system for their criminal behavior,” Flynn told the Herald.
Murphy said, “This incident was unacceptable, and I am glad the individual responsible has been arrested. My focus throughout has been on employee safety and securing City Hall offices. City Hall must be a safe workplace, and this incident underscores the importance of secure offices and prompt action.”
Mayor Wu’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on police identification of the alleged City Hall larceny suspect.
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