Indicted Boston city councilor no longer due in court next week, appearance delayed until March

Boston City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson won’t have to appear in federal court again until March, after a judge granted a request from both sides to cancel next week’s status conference in the public corruption case.

Fernandes Anderson was due back in court next Wednesday, for the first time since her arrest and arraignment early last month. A requested delay granted by a federal judge this week pushed back the status conference to March 5, court records show.

A “joint initial status report” filed Wednesday indicates that both sides are working on processing or reviewing evidence in the discovery phase, in preparation for the court-ordered meeting, which will held remotely and is typically centered around discussing the status of a case, exchanging information, and deciding on next steps.

“The parties ask the court to exclude the period from Jan. 29, 2025 and the date of the interim status conference … as the government will produce further discovery and the defendant will use the excluded time to review discovery,” the filing states.

Federal prosecutors had stated in a December filing that they needed more time to complete discovery and release it to the defense, given the vast amount of evidence the government has to process, including a database of more than a million files.

This week’s filing states that the government plans to produce further discovery “on or about” Jan. 31. It also notes that the defendant has not made any additional discovery requests, but is “reviewing discovery materials and evaluating the merits of any motions.”

Both sides requested that next Wednesday’s status conference be canceled “as there are no matters needing the court’s attention at this time,” according to the joint filing signed by the new U.S. Attorney Leah Foley, who was appointed earlier this week by President Donald Trump’s administration.

Foley inherits the kickback case leveled against a sitting Boston city councilor from her predecessor, former U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy, who stepped down following Trump’s election.

Fernandes Anderson, 46, was indicted and arrested by the feds in early December on six public corruption charges — or more specifically five counts of aiding and abetting wire fraud and one count of aiding and abetting theft concerning a program receiving federal funds.

The second-term councilor, who represents Roxbury, Dorchester, Fenway and part of the South End, is alleged to have doled out a $13,000 bonus to a relative she had hired as one of her Council staffers — on the condition that $7,000 be kicked back to her. The handoff, the feds say, took place in a City Hall bathroom in June 2023.

Fernandes Anderson, per the indictment, is believed to have been motivated, in part, by financial difficulties. She was making $103,500 at the time of the kickback, saw her Council salary boosted to $115,000 last January, and received another 5% pay hike this month.

The councilor, who has defied calls to resign, is now paid $120,000.