Tennessee Rep. Reaches Plea Deal Amid Charges of Wire Fraud To Receive Kickbacks

Tennessee Rep. Robin Smith has reached a plea deal after being charged with federal wire fraud in relation to a political consulting firm that involved a former House Speaker and current Rep. Glen Casada.

The official, who has since resigned from her post on Monday, faces one count of honest services wire fraud based on documents unsealed in federal court in Nashville on that same day. Smith's resignation was revealed in a letter shared by a Chattanooga public relations firm.

Charges of Wire Fraud

Smith's attorney said, based on court documents, that after the former official reached a plea agreement on the charge, her plea hearing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon. In her letter to House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Smith said that it was an honor to have served the people of the district and all of Tennessee. She added her stepping down was filled with humility and was made out of respect for the role of public service.

Prosecutors claim that the representative, along with Casada and the latter's former top aide, Cade Cothren, were in league with a shadowy firm known as Phoenix Solutions. The agency allegedly concealed its operator as Cothren engineered kickbacks to Smith and Casada, as per Tennessean.

Prosecutors said that Smith devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive the people of the Middle District of Tennessee. They also argued that the suspect targeted the government of Tennessee in her scheme and deprived them of their right to the honest services of a public official.

In 2019, Casada resigned from the top leadership post after it was revealed that he exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women with Cothren several years back. Agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers in January last year.

According to Yahoo News, the homes they searched included those of Casada, Smith, and Cothren and at the time, investigators declined to give a reason for the operations. Up to date, authorities have not charged Cothren or Casada in the case against Smith.

Dishonest Public Service

Smith's attorney most recently revealed that the suspect filed a motion indicating she will plead guilty to the charges. Tuesday's hearing is expected to include the representative's implication of Casada and Cothren.

It is believed that Smith and Casada received kickbacks from Cothren in exchange for using their political authority as members of the Tennessee House of Representatives to perform official acts. The actions include pressuring the Tennessee House Speaker's Office to approve the shadow firm as a Mailer Program vendor and disburse State funds to Phoenix Solutions LLC, News Channel 5 reported.

Cothren is believed to have exchanged emails with his then-girlfriend disguising themselves as "Candice" and "Matthew" to make it seem that they were employees of the firm. The messages tried to show the two trying to secure an outstanding payment that the state had not yet paid.

Smith told several Republican lawmakers in 2020 that "Matthew Phoenix and his associate, Candice, got tired of living in the Washington, D.C. area and decided to move back home to New Mexico, where Phoenix started Phoenix Solutions."