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Michelle Wu administration official sentenced in connection to prison money laundering charge

Rick Sobey, Boston Herald on

Published in News & Features

BOSTON — A longtime Boston City Hall worker who made more than $130,000 a year in the Mayor Michelle Wu administration has been sentenced in connection to a prison money laundering charge.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office earlier this year offered a plea deal to Freda Brasfield, who had been Wu’s director of administration and finance.

Brasfield last year in Middlesex Superior Court was charged with one count each of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering — in connection with an alleged prison drug smuggling operation.

“The AGO requested that the defendant plead guilty to the Money Laundering charge in exchange for dropping the Conspiracy charge,” a spokesperson for Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office said in a statement.

The conspiracy charge ended up being tossed, and the money laundering charge was “continued without a finding” after a judge’s ruling.

According to mass.gov, a continued without a finding is when the defendant “has formally submitted, and the court has accepted, a plea of guilty or an admission to sufficient facts.”

Brasfield did not plead guilty, her attorney told the Herald Tuesday.

Brasfield was sentenced to two years probation on the money laundering charge. Those probation conditions include submitting a DNA sample and not leaving Massachusetts without the express permission of the Probation Service.

If she successfully completes the probation, the charge will be dismissed.

The city of Boston placed her on unpaid leave after she was charged with money laundering last year. She continues to be on unpaid administrative leave.

When Brasfield was charged, her lawyer said at the time, “Freda Brasfield is an honorable and dedicated public servant and a deeply valued member of the community. She has been a selfless advocate for those in need for decades. She has been wrongfully charged. The facts of the case will speak the real truth.”

Her attorney David Meier on Tuesday said her case “was resolved without any admission of wrongdoing.”

 

“Ms. Brasfield now looks forward to moving on with her personal and professional life,” added Meier, of Todd & Weld LLP. “By all accounts, she has served the City of Boston and has dedicated herself to the communities of Mattapan and Dorchester with honor and distinction for more than 30 years. It is my genuine hope that she will have the opportunity to continue to do so.”

Her case was related to an alleged multi-person conspiracy to smuggle synthetic drugs into MCI-Shirley. The alleged operation reportedly involved her nephew.

“Synthetic cannabinoids in incarcerated settings are now a widespread problem in Massachusetts prisons,” Campbell’s office wrote about the case last year.

According to the the AG’s office, investigators became aware of four MCI-Shirley inmates, including Keenan Brasfield, coordinating with non-incarcerated family members or significant others to “negotiate the purchase and delivery of synthetic cannabinoids from a former inmate.”

The AG’s office claimed that various members of the group tried multiple ways of getting drugs into the prison, including an attempt to mail in paper treated with chemical compounds at one point, and multiple attempts for outsiders to bring drugs in.

Brasfield wasn’t accused of directly trying to sneak drugs into MCI-Shirley, but prosecutors had alleged that she helped coordinate some payments.

Earlier this year, a correction officer at MCI-Shirley was exposed to a synthetic cannabinoid and knocked unconscious, ending up in the hospital.

In 2022, Brasfield as the mayor’s director of administration and finance took home $134,117.

Her tenure around City Hall goes back to the Menino era.

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