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Cade Cothren, former chief of staff for Tennessee's then-Speaker of the House Glen Casada, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison, one year of probation and a $25,000 fine this week for his role in the infamous Phoenix Solutions kickback scheme.
In a lengthy hearing on Tuesday, District Judge Eli Richardson extensively weighed the prosecution’s request for more than five years of prison and an appeal by the defense to skip jail time altogether, landing on a sort of middle-ground punishment in the first sentencing related to the scheme.
After more than nine hours of discussion, Richardson somewhat split the difference, largely siding with the prosecution when establishing the sentencing range, but handing down punishments toward the lower end of that range.
The former state House speaker and his aide have been charged with bribery, fraud and money laundering
While he said he didn’t want to “make an example” of Cothren, per se, Richardson called the case a “rare opportunity” to have an extensive investigation, get convictions and have the chance to dole out a proportionate punishment to dissuade corruption.
The clearly conflicted judge described Cothren's actions as “dishonest, crummy, and way below the standard” expected of someone in his position, but also noted that the relative damages were far from the worst example of money laundering and wire services fraud cases.
In 2019 and 2020, Cothren posed as Matthew Phoenix to continue doing campaign and caucus business with Tennessee politicians after he resigned over texts that suggested he used racial slurs, solicited sexually explicit photos from an intern and used cocaine in the state Capitol.
Casada and then-Rep. Robin Smith (R-Hixson) used their connections and their own registered consulting companies to direct business to Phoenix Solutions, for which all three got a cut of the proceeds.
After a series of FBI raids at the Capitol offices and personal homes of those involved, Smith quickly began cooperating with federal investigators, leaving Casada and Cothren to face prosecution in the spring. The pair were convicted on more than a dozen counts each of money laundering, honest wire services fraud and related charges in a three-week jury trial in May.
Last week, Richardson approved Casada’s request to be sentenced separately from Cothren and dropped a handful of convictions from both related to whether they committed the crimes while operating as agents of the state.
More than five years after the FBI initially raided his office, Cothren, who is supposed to turn himself in by Nov. 17, intends to appeal all 16 of his convictions, meaning he may be allowed to remain out of jail on appeal through that process.
Casada’s sentencing, which was also scheduled for Tuesday, was postponed a week due to extensive debate on Cothren’s sentencing.
Ex-Speaker Glen Casada arrested, faces October trial alongside top aide Cade Cothren
After the hearing, Cothren’s attorneys declined to comment aside from clarifying that they will appeal all of the convictions. A prosecuting attorney referred the Banner to a spokesperson who has not responded to requests for comment.
An antsy Cothren declined to comment, telling reporters outside of the courtroom, “I’d like to,” but otherwise restraining.
‘Is He a Potted Plant?’
The central questions in the sentencing were around how much to increase the level of Cothren’s offense based on factors like his proximity to public officials, whether the scheme amounted to one bribe or multiple bribes, and whether it was “sophisticated” or just garden-variety money laundering.
The longest debate was over the prosecution’s estimate of damages. While the prosecution argued the damages amounted to $211,443.48, defense argued that the $159,000 Phoenix Solutions obtained through caucus and campaign work was legitimate, and that Cothren received roughly $22,000 in net proceeds from the state’s postage and printing funds for constituent mailers.
Prosecuting attorney Blake Phillips argued that if Phoenix Solutions had not lied about Cothren’s involvement, it wouldn’t have received the campaign- and caucus-related funds it did.
Defense attorney Joy Longnecker responded that Phoenix’s clients knew who they were dealing with, pointing to $45,481 that the Tennessee Republican Party paid to Phoenix Solutions in December 2020 for support in various contested races across the state. She argued that the campaign and caucus work was its own business and was not criminal in nature.
“The state government was not so deceived,” she said. “The Republican Party was not so deceived.”
To prove this assertion, the defense called a character witness: Marilyn Calfee, wife of then-Rep. Kent Calfee (R-Kingston). Many people submitted letters to the court on behalf of Cothren, including the Calfees, for whom Phoenix Solutions did more than $22,000 of work.
Phillips said he was “baffled” by the Calfees' letters, because in two separate interviews with the FBI, the Calfees said they wouldn’t have worked with Phoenix Solutions if they knew Cothren was involved. Still, Marilyn Calfee testified on Tuesday that she’d gotten to know Cothren in large part because he was dating Ava Korby, the daughter of her administrative assistant.
“I’ve been blessed by God with the spirit of discernment,” Calfee told the court. “I can almost look at someone and tell what kind of person they are.” She described Cothren as “nice” and highlighted his commitment to faith and family.
She justified Cothren’s misbehavior, saying “what he did in his personal life didn't really affect me,” and noting that he was “a single man,” even after prosecution mentioned half a dozen women Cothren allegedly had sexual relationships with while dating Korby.
Calfee typically served as treasurer for her husband’s campaigns. She testified that in the summer of 2020, she and her husband wanted a constituent mailer to send out for their upcoming campaign. She connected with Phoenix Solutions through Smith.
“If Robin Smith had told me that Cade Cothren was behind Phoenix Solutions, we would have done business with him,” she said, adding that the mailer was a good product, her husband won the election and she didn’t feel victimized by the circumstances surrounding it, personally or as a citizen of Tennessee.
Jury deliberated four days before convicting duo of honest services wire fraud; both defendants plan to appeal
During cross examination, Phillips entered into evidence text messages that read as follows:
Smith: “Calfee is an idiot. Some of these guys are like potted plants.”
Cothren: “Absolutely.”
Smith: “But he’s our potted plant.”
Phillips then asked Calfee, “Is your husband an idiot?
“No,” she responded.
“Is he a potted plant?” Phillips continued.
“Do I like potted plants?” she replied, mishearing the question.
Interspersed with objections from the defense, Phillips brought up Cothren’s alleged cocaine use and racist texts that included use of the N-word. Philips repeatedly asked Calfee if this information changed her view of Cothren’s character.
“No,” Calfee said each time.
“We would have still done business,” she later reiterated, “if we knew it was Cade.”
Calfee told the Banner during a break that her original claim was false because she was stressed out by the presence of the FBI.
“I felt like I was the one being involved,” she said of the earliest stages of the investigation, adding that she “had no information” of what they were investigating.
She then said she felt pressured to maintain her original story.
“I was thinking, ‘Gosh, if I don’t repeat what I said the first time, I could really get Cade in trouble,’” Calfee continued.
Later, the defense called a second character witness: Cothren’s cousin Emily Isom, principal and founder of Haven Academy in Franklin.
Isom testified glowingly about Cothren’s character, saying that he had been supportive to her and her four children, whom she described as “biracial,” noting that one is adopted and one has special needs. She also said she’d never seen Cothren take drugs.
During cross examination, Phillips brought up Cothren’s alleged racist texts, to which Isom simply replied that he was “excellent” with her kids.
Phillips also produced several text message exhibits of Cothren discussing cocaine.
“There’s nothing you can say,” Isom responded, “that will change my view of Mr. Cothren.”
‘Deterrent’
Showing his work each step of the way, Judge Richardson seemed torn by the lack of actual victims of the crime and the severity of damage that such corruption does to public trust.
“It breeds cynicism,” Richardson said of corruption, adding that there was no significant factual question in the sentencing, but that the two parties were on “different planets” when it came to the severity of the matter.
Ultimately, Richardson said that “none of this needed to happen,” condemning the lengths that Cothren went to to deceive people about his identity, particularly a false W9 that Cothren filed.
The judge also denounced the use of “consulting” on checks to shroud what specific service was being provided, a practice allegedly used in other white collar crimes, including a similar alleged kickback scheme that took place around the same time.
Richardson said it is “remarkable how many times bogus transactions are papered over as ‘consulting,’” and remarked that he hoped the sentencing would deter anyone weighing the risks of similar fraud.
One of Casada’s attorneys declined to comment after the hearing, noting that his client had a different role in the scheme than Cothren and that the cases contain different sets of facts.
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
