A jury found House Speaker Glen Casada and his ex-top aide guilty on corruption charges tied to a secretive political vendor.
The 12-person jury found Casada guilty of 17 counts of fraud, bribery, theft, conspiracy and money laundering and Cothren, who left his chief of staff post amid a racist and sexist texting scandal in 2019, guilty on all 19 counts of fraud, stemming from his bogus signature of “Matthew Phoenix” on a federal W-9 tax form and state direct deposit document.
Both will be released on bond until sentencing on September 12, but attorneys for the pair say they felt confident about their cases and will appeal the rulings.
Casada and Cothren were accused of setting up a secret company called Phoenix Solutions that tapped into the state’s postage and printing program that provides House members $3,000 a year for constituent mailers. Casada and former Rep. Robin Smith, who pleaded guilty and testified against the pair, steered lawmakers’ business to Phoenix Solutions, which was secretly run by Cothren with the front name of “Matthew Phoenix.”
Lawmakers such as Reps. Jay Reedy and Esther Helton-Haynes and former Rep. Patsy Hazlewood testified they wouldn’t have allowed Phoenix Solutions to do their mailers if they had known Cothren was running the company. In late 2019 and early 2020, Cothren was considered a liability because he had been forced to resign, just three months before Casada stepped down from his Speaker’s post after a no-confidence vote by the House Republican Caucus.
Federal prosecutors displayed several text messages and emails showing Cothren told Smith and Casada to keep his name off of documents. Smith testified that they hatched the plan in a meeting at an upscale Nashville bar in 2019. She came up with the name of “Phoenix” because she felt Cothren and Casada should be able to arise from political ashes.
The company generated $52,000 in revenue from constituent mailers for about 10 lawmakers, money that Smith described as “low-hanging fruit.” They tapped into campaign and Republican Caucus money, as well. But most of the trial dealt with the use of tax dollars.
The trial’s outcome brings to a close a five-year ordeal that started with the FBI probing lawmakers after the 2019 tie vote on the state’s education savings account program for low-income students in Metro Nashville, Memphis and, subsequently, Chattanooga.
Casada and Cothren didn’t testify in their own defense, nor did House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who has been cooperating with federal authorities. The defense raised questions in court documents about whether Sexton or someone in his office wore a wire to record conversations with lawmakers.
The FBI raided the homes of Cothren, Casada and Smith as well as Rep. Todd Warner and other offices on Jan. 8, 2021. A year and a half later, they indicted Casada, Smith and Cothren on a litany of kickback charges.
This article was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout.
