The state Office of Campaign and Political Finance flagged these expenses and numerous others, saying they needed more documentation.
But Fernandes Anderson has nearly 70 audit letters and reviews in her file going back to , far more than is typical, according to specialists in campaign finance. Many of the letters repeat prior requests that had gone unanswered. Public records reviewed by WBUR portray a city councilor who has faced years of financial turmoil. That strain seeped into her political life, with shoddy recordkeeping, rule violations and the involvement of family in her financial affairs, allegedly culminating in a cash payment that prosecutors say was illegal.
Fernandes Anderson was arrested on a half-dozen federal corruption charges earlier this month. The councilor employed the kickback scheme at a time when she was trying to pay off debts, the indictment alleges.
Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy said. Fernandes Anderson has pleaded not guilty. As recently as last month, Fernandes Anderson was working to resolve campaign finance infractions with state regulators. Fernandes Anderson had entrusted her campaign finance account to her year-old son, Louis Roca, who she says is serving in the U. She named him treasurer in May That was after she had to fire him as a council staffer the prior year, because employing her son and sister on her staff broke the state conflict-of-interest law.
Roca's name is on a number of the audit letters. After months of missing deposit reports and expenditure information, state regulators ordered the councilor to remove him from that position too, according to a resolution letter filed in November. Fernandes Anderson declined to answer specific questions for this story through her attorney, Scott Lauer. In court documents, federal investigators say the councilor was in a deep financial bind in early to mid In public records, and by her own official telling, there were many lean years before being elected councilor in According to her city council bio , she moved to the United States from Cape Verde at age 10, to live with her mother in a Roxbury public housing project.
