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City Hall finance director charged with money laundering in prison drug-smuggling effort

By adamg on Fri, 02/10/2023 - 8:54pm

WFXT reports on the charges against Freda Brasfield, Mayor Wu's administration and finance director. She was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury in December, arraigned today and released on personal recognizance. Two other people were charged with the alleged drug smuggling.

Innocent, etc.

Topics: 
Crime


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Comments

By anon on Fri, 02/10/2023 - 9:27pm.

2-3 months ago and it’s just now becoming public. The mayor needs to answer to why she was allowed to remain on the job considering her title and charges.

By Kaz on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 4:05pm.

She was indicted by the grand jury in December. Why they didn't charge and arrest her earlier, I don't know. But seeing as she was arraigned only yesterday they likely didn't charge and arrest her until yesterday. You don't just sit around being charged and get arraigned weeks later.

By Ron Newman on Fri, 02/10/2023 - 10:57pm.

 

By Friartuck on Fri, 02/10/2023 - 11:29pm.

Did Diane W give her bra stuffing tips?

By perruptor on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 12:23am.

See: Portugal.

By Ralph on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 4:47pm.

not drug sales.....that's still very much a crime. They only decriminalized it if you are a drug user.

By MassMouse on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 7:56pm.

That is the FIRST person I thought of when I saw the story!

By BostonDog on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 2:58am.

A departmental finance director being charged with money laundering and drug sales is really, really bad. That was my first thought.

Edit: As others note below, this person is an administrative head of a city hall department, not the person who oversees the City's budget. Still serious.

By deselby on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 4:51am.

they shouldn't be allowed in jails and prisons

By Rwgfy on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 7:23am.

They better do. Is it a second director from Wu's office caught on drug charges?

By BostonDog on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 8:11am.

As the Globe reported, this is a longtime city employee who was hired in the 1990s. She's spanned at least three administrations.

They are going to need to carefully examine her work to ensure no improprieties. If people had made complaints about her and were brushed aside, the circumstances of why they weren't taken seriously need to be publicized.

This investigation must have began when Healey was AG and Campbell was a councilor, presumably friendly with the accused. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

By Rwgfy on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 9:20am.

https://www.masslive.com/boston/2020/10/former-staffer-for-boston-mayora...

By CopleyScott17 on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 7:17am.

I expect her salary and benefits are quite generous, though apparently (allegedly) not enough for her.

By anon on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 8:06am.

Being hired. Hard to get yourself out of that predicament.

Regardless, this shows piss poor judgement on the Mayors part. Maybe stop putting under-qualified “activists” in high level positions.

This is the making of a single term Mayor.

By Jiggles on Sun, 02/12/2023 - 9:37am.

Highly doubt this scheme started in the 80s.

By dotORnot on Sun, 02/12/2023 - 11:36am.

She was in this role under Mayor Walsh as well. Mayor Wu did not hire her.

By Hardy Har Har on Sun, 02/12/2023 - 12:50pm.

"Freda Brasfield began working for the city in the 1990s as a construction monitor, visiting work sites to ensure they were hiring Boston residents, women, and people of color, as required by city law, the Globe reported.

Brasfield later worked 11 years for the city as a neighborhood services coordinator in Mattapan and Dorchester. Under the administration of Martin J. Walsh, Brasfield worked as chief of staff in the Economic Development Cabinet and as deputy to the city’s first chief diversity officer, the Globe reported."

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/02/10/metro/longtime-boston-official-ch...

By Citizen on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 8:40am.

An early report described her financial duties as basically keeping a department stocked with supplies… presumably pens, notepads, whiteout etc.
The latest report has her as an actual high-up finance director.
Hopefully the City will clarify exactly what her duties are and what ‘deals’ she may have been involved in while representing the tax-paying citizens of Boston.

By Hardy Har Har on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 10:08am.

"Brasfield is the mayor’s director of administration and finance, a position with an annual salary of $130,222, according to city data. To be clear, that’s a different position than the head of the A&F Cabinet or the city’s chief financial officer; Brasfield’s job is to do administration-related tasks specifically for the mayor’s office, and not deal with bigger-picture issues like the budget, which is the purview of the CFO and that Cabinet."

https://www.bostonherald.com/2023/02/10/boston-administration-official-o...

PS - Whiteout?

By anon on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 10:40am.

Position which was awarded to a political activist friendly to the mayor.

Typically someone making $130K has a defined roll and responsibilities which justifies that pay.

By CopleyScott17 on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 12:08pm.

Maybe mid-six figures is the going rate these days?

By deselby on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 8:49am.

nice but not extreme for high responsibility

https://data.boston.gov/dataset/employee-earnings-report

By CopleyScott17 on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 9:39am.

Allegedly.

By K on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 8:50am.

At the end of the article.

By Rwgfy on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 10:40am.

Only 132K to manage office supplies? No wonder they can't find Boston residents to fill city jobs.

By anon on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 11:46am.

However unless you know someone or check some certain unrelated box, they just toss your resume.

She was a local activist who likely supported someone (Wu) who promoted her to her current position, which she doesn't have the appropriate skill set for

By Eliot on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 11:17am.

"Brasfield has served under multiple democratic administrations in Boston, including her role as deputy chief diversity officer under former mayor Marty Walsh."

Nuff said.

By Kaz on Sat, 02/11/2023 - 4:12pm.

There have been multiple articles detailing the DOC's abuse of a particular inconclusive drug test to accuse both inmates (who then get punished without much recourse) and their attorneys (who somehow don't get charged even though the DOC uses the results against the inmates) of passing synthetic drugs via drug-soaked paper mail over the past few years. And despite all the other states refusing to use the same test in this way or the numerous complaints by defense lawyers that the DOC is chasing false positives and just using this as a way to abuse inmates, there's been zero evidence that the DOC will change its ways.

The claim here is that this woman was laundering money for a drug smuggling operation exactly like the ones described in the articles? The schemes that don't actually exist but the DOC assumes are happening? I would wait to see the evidence before deciding she's guilty.

By anon on Sun, 02/12/2023 - 3:26pm.

issues with the drug mailing testing system have nothing to do with money laundering and/or structuring transactions.

By anon on Sun, 02/12/2023 - 7:55am.

James Michael Curley is looking up and smiling.