Joe.My.God. LGBT News
The Associated Press reports:
Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering with federal funds.
Their indictments come months after Republican Rep. Robin Smith abruptly resigned when faced with federal wire fraud charges involving Casada. While Casada was not directly named at that point, her March indictment kicked off speculation that more charges would come from the corruption investigation.
FBI agents arrested Casada and his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren at their homes Tuesday morning. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison.
From the Justice Department:
According to the indictment, beginning in and around October 2019, Casada, while representing Tennessee House District 63, Cothren, and another conspirator, also a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, engaged in a fraudulent scheme to enrich themselves by exploiting Casada and the other conspirator’s official positions as legislators to obtain State approval of Phoenix Solutions as a Mailer Program vendor to provide constituent mail services to members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
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 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.
The indictment alleges that Casada and the other conspirator told members of the Tennessee General Assembly that Phoenix Solutions was run by an individual named “Matthew Phoenix,” an experienced political consultant who had previously worked for a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm.
In fact, Cothren operated Phoenix Solutions, and Casada, Cothren, and the other conspirator knew that “Matthew Phoenix” was a fictitious person and secretly profited from the fraudulent venture.
Casada, Cothren, and the other conspirator concealed their involvement in Phoenix Solutions by submitting sham invoices to the State of Tennessee in the names of political consulting companies owned by Casada and the other conspirator, for the purpose of secretly funneling money from the State to Phoenix Solutions through the bank accounts of these companies.
Casada last appeared on JMG in 2019 when he refused to resign after Cothren was exposed for N-word laden text messages about “soliciting oral sex and naked photos from an intern” and “calling Metro police officers who gave him parking tickets ‘rent a cop cocksuckers.’”
At the time, the pair were also accused of doctoring an email from a black student activist.
Casada first appeared on JMG in 2009 when he was party to a Tennessee GOP lawsuit accusing Barack Obama of not being a US citizen and therefore ineligible to be president.
Tennessee’s former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering involving federal funds. https://t.co/zoZ0p6XjTc
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 23, 2022