On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced that disgraced former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and his former chief of staff Cade Cothren have been indicted on 20 federal charges stemming from a “bribery and kickback conspiracy.”

The charges include “theft from programs receiving federal funds; bribery and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds; honest services wire fraud; and conspiracy to commit money laundering,” according to the DOJ statement, which says that “Both were arrested at their homes this morning by FBI agents and will make initial appearances before a U.S. Magistrate Judge later today.”

“According to the indictment, beginning in and around October 2019, Casada … 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,” said the DOJ. “Casada, Cothren, and the other conspirator further sought […]