Wu official charged
AG alleges money-laundering tied to prison
A Wu office official is on unpaid leave after she was charged with money laundering, authorities say.
Freda Brasfield, a longtime City Hall worker and local activist, is charged with one count each of money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a spokeswoman for Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
The case is out of Woburn, where the AG’s office secured an indictment in December, leading to Brasfield’s arraignment Friday. She entered a plea of not guilty, and says she’s been “wrongfully charged.”
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.
The city confirmed that Brasfield, whose tenure around City Hall goes back to the Menino era, has been placed on unpaid leave.
“The City was made aware of these allegations yesterday evening,” a Wu spokesman said Friday. “Today, the City placed Ms. Brasfield on unpaid administrative leave while the court case proceeds or additional information becomes available.”
The city said that the allegations have nothing to do with anything she did at work.
Her case is related to an alleged multi-person conspiracy to smuggle synthetic drugs into prison, according to the TV station Boston 25, which first reported the news and had further details from the arraignment in Woburn Superior Court.
The TV station reported that multiple people including her nephew took part in the alleged scheme to get the drugs into MCIShirley.
Her lawyer, David Meier of Todd & Weld, said in a statement, “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.”