FBI arrests Tennessee Republican lawmaker, former chief of staff over alleged bribery and kickback conspiracy

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-arrests-tennessee-republican-lawmaker-former-chief-staff-over-alleged-bribery-kickback-conspiracy.amp

>FBI

The FBI arrested a Tennessee Republican state lawmaker and his former chief of staff on Tuesday morning following an indictment charging them in an alleged bribery and kickback conspiracy.

Tennessee state Rep. Glen Casada, 63, of Franklin, Tennessee, and his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren, 35, of Nashville, were indicted by a federal grand jury Monday for allegedly running a sham constituent mailing program intended to personally enrich themselves, the Justice Department said.

Both were arrested at their homes Tuesday morning by FBI agents.

>FBI agents

The 20-count indictment comes following a months-long federal corruption investigation and represents the first time current or former Tennessee Speaker of the House has been indicted in state history, according to The Tennessean. Once one of the state General Assembly’s most powerful Republicans, Casada did not seek re-election this year and resigned as House speaker in 2019 after allegedly exchanging explicit and racist text messages with Cothren while he was his chief of staff.

The FBI raided Casada’s home and offices in January 2021, and in March of this year, lawmakers and legislative staff received a swath of grand jury subpoenas in connection to the corruption probe. In March, another Tennessee state lawmaker, Rep. Robin Smith, resigned from her position after being implicated in an alleged wire fraud scheme involving Casada and pleaded guilty to federal charges.

>FBI raided

Beginning around October 2019, Casada, while representing Tennessee House District 63, Cothren, and another unnamed conspirator — also a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives — allegedly engaged in a fraudulent scheme to enrich themselves by exploiting Casada and the other conspirator’s official positions as legislators to have "Phoenix Solutions" approved by the state as a mailer program vendor to provide constituent mail services to members of the Tennessee General Assembly.

According to a 20-count indictment unsealed Tuesday, Casada, Cothren, and the other conspirator further sought to obtain state funds for Phoenix Solutions, Casada’s political consulting business, and a political consulting business owned by the other conspirator. It allegedly was further part of the conspiracy for Casada and the other conspirator to enrich themselves by obtaining bribes and kickbacks from Cothren, in exchange for securing the approval of Phoenix Solutions as a mailer program vendor.

They are to make initial appearances before a U.S. Magistrate Judge later Tuesday.

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