NEW: Key Islamic Democrat To Serve Prison Time After Being Caught For Corruption

A former illegal immigrant and member of the Boston City Council will serve prison time after pleading guilty to taking a bribe in office.

Tania Fernandes Anderson, who resigned her seat in July, reached an agreement with federal prosecutors earlier this summer, in which she pleaded guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence. Massachusetts’ U.S. Attorney Leah Fohey had recommended one year imprisonment for the Democrat.

Instead, Anderson will serve just one month for taking a $7,000 bribe in a bathroom of City Hall back in 2023, an arrangement she struck with a former staff member.

In addition, she will be required to serve three years of supervised release and pay $13,000 in restitution.

“I actually don’t like being in the media,” said Fernandes Anderson, who spoke outside court following her sentencing on Friday. “It’s just too much and so can you please, I’m asking you for the love of god, stop talking about me? Just let the story go. It happened, I took responsibility.”

Fernandes was something of a progressive star before her arrest, infamously shouting “what do I have to do in this f**king council in order to get respect as a black woman” during one contentious city hall hearing. She had served since winning a crowded Democratic primary in 2021 and was the first former illegal immigrant to be elected to the body.

WATCH:

I asked the FBI to arrest one Democrat. Turns out it’s my lucky day.

Tania Fernandes Anderson, a Woke, BLM, former illegal alien on the Boston City Council, has been arrested by the FBI & indicted on five counts of wire fraud.

Miracles really do happen!pic.twitter.com/CdTmN2URcR

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) April 10, 2025

Despite earning a $120,000 annual salary, Fernandes’s bills reportedly mounted. She fell behind on her car and rent payments, leading her to devise a scheme with a staffer where she received a $7,000 kickback in exchange for offering the individual an exorbitant $10,000 bonus.

“Tania Fernandes Anderson was elected to serve her constituents, but instead, she deliberately used her elected position as a Boston City Councilor to serve herself,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley in a statement to CBS Boston.

Fernandes also admitted to filing fraudulent tax statements in 2021, 2022, and 2023, omitting $11,000 she earned from a Massachusetts-based corporation and political campaign funds she used for “personal enrichment.”

WATCH:

“I’m actually an introvert, and it hurts when you put me on the news,” she said outside her sentencing, singling out the center-right Boston Herald, “and all the folks who tried to create stories.”

“Try to verify your facts. The reason I don’t talk to you is ’cause you never report accurately on black people. You’re always reporting some kind of trouble,” she added.