Former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, 63, and his former chief of staff, Cade Cothren, 35, were arrested Tuesday on federal fraud charges following an extensive investigation into both. In 2019, the previous Speaker of the House of Representatives resigned. He has not run for re-election this year and is the first incumbent or former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives to be indicted.
Glen Casada and Cothren appeared in federal court and pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the defendant could face up to 20 years in prison. Glen Casada and Cothren were indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with conspiracy to commit theft from federally funded programs, bribery and kickbacks related to federally funded programs, honest service fraud, and conspiracy to launder money, according to a press release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Tennessee.
If I can do it with Glen Casada and Cade Cothren, I can do it with anyone who uses a fictitious name to scam; stealing from federal funds; carry out money laundering; wire fraud; or take bribes and kickbacks
– Brad Batt for TN State Sanity (@bradbatt) August 23, 2022
Glen Casada’s Relationship with Cade Cothren and “Matthew Phoenix”
Federal authorities arrested Glen Casada and Cade Cothren at their home. The former Speaker of the House is accused of running a political consulting firm under the pseudonym “Matthew Phoenix” for personal gain.
The Justice Department said in a press release:
“In October 2019, while representing District 63 of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Casada, Cothren and another accomplice, also a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, engaged in a fraudulent scheme to enrich the community. themselves using the official positions of Casada and another co-conspirator as legislator to obtain state approval for Phoenix Solutions as a Mailer program provider to provide mail services. voters for members of the Tennessee General Assembly.”
It continued:
“Actually, Cothren runs Phoenix Solutions, and Casada, Cothren and a third conspirator are said to know that ‘Matthew Phoenix’ is a fake company and have secretly benefited from the fake company.”
They will submit fake bills to the state government in the name of Glen Casada and the consulting firms of the third mastermind. In 2020, these companies and Phoenix Solutions received approximately $51,947 in government payments related to the mailing program. During the trial, Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton testified and promised the administration would cooperate fully in this matter.
“Tennessee will not tolerate public corruption, fraud or bribery at any level. Over the past two years, our legislature has worked together to take important steps throughout this investigation, including legislation to improve campaign financial controls and new ethical standards for elected officials and employees.”
Sexton continued:
“Today is a great day for the people of Tennessee because we did not condone these illegal actions.”
House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-Memphis, said:
“We are elected to serve the public, and when that trust is broken, it’s extremely demoralizing and erodes our citizens’ trust in government.”
Camper went on to say:
“However, this underscores how urgently campaign finance reform is still needed and the bipartisan legislation that has already been passed must go further.”
Casada announced in November 2021 that he will retire at the end of 2022.
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: vcmp.edu.vn