Federal corruption trial of former TN House speaker, former chief of staff begins

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The federal political corruption trial against former Republican and Speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives Glen Casada and his former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren began in Judge Eli Richardson’s courtroom on Tuesday.

Casada and Cothren face 20 federal counts of conspiracy, public corruption by fraud, bribery and name concealment, and money laundering. A grand jury indicted the pair in August of 2022, and the trial has been continued four times.

In 2019, Casada became Speaker of the House and held that role for nearly eight months. During part of that time, Cothren served as Casada’s Chief of Staff, but was forced to resign in May over allegations of misconduct, and racist and sexist text messages. Casada would also get caught up in the scandal and leave his position as Speaker that August.

But in November of 2019, with the help of Casada and former State Representative Robin Smith of Hixson, Cothren set up a shell company called Phoenix Solutions, which would do work as a political vendor, sending out constituent and campaign mail for House Republicans.

At that time, the State of Tennessee gave each House member $3,000 a year (called a Postage and Printing Allowance) to send surveys and mail to the people they represent, updating them on what is going on at the legislature. While a special office in the General Assembly paid the invoices for that constituent mail, the Speaker’s Office had the power to approve the companies providing those services.

So, according to the government, in October of 2019, Casada, Cothren, and Smith conspired to profit off the Postage and Printing Allowance by having Casada and Smith pressure House Republicans to use Phoenix Solutions for their constituent mail. Cothren would then allegedly pay bribes and kickbacks to Casada and Smith from the profits his company made. And according to the government, when the State didn’t pay the invoices fast enough, Casada and Smith would pressure lawmakers to pay up from their own coffers.

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To make their scheme work, the government claims the three had to hide the fact that Cothren owned Phoenix Solutions, and they did this by telling lawmakers an experienced political operative named Mathew Phoenix ran the company. Cothren then set up a fake email to communicate with lawmakers and incorporated Phoenix Solutions in New Mexico.

In 2020, more than $51,000 in state constituent mail payments were funneled to Cothren through Phoenix Solutions, with Casada and Cothren getting more than $35,000 in bribes and kickbacks according to the government’s case.

Following an FBI investigation, Smith was arrested and pleaded guilty to wire fraud for her involvement in the scheme and is now cooperating as a government witness in the case against Casada and Cothren.

During the trial, the US Attorney’s office is expected to call 15 witnesses, including current Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, and possibly other lawmakers. At least 20 Republican House members have been subpoenaed to testify by the defense, and the government contends it has government and bank records, audio and video recordings, and pictures that can prove Casada and Cothren are guilty.

Earlier this spring, Casada and Cothren filed a joint motion to compel the government to identify a confidential source who provided the FBI with information in the case, but that motion, which would have allowed defense attorneys to call that source to the stand and testify, was denied.

Both Casada and Cothren have maintained their innocence, claiming the government’s case is a witch hunt, and that no fraud was committed because the mailing services contracted for were provided without issue.

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