Details on the wire fraud charge ending Robin Smith’s legislative career
Lawmaker resigned her seat today as she faces FBI investigation
UPDATE: Because a plea agreement was already in place, the filings in the Robin Smith case are not called an indictment. All filings in the case are part of an information hearing. Smith is expected to be in U.S. District Court Tuesday at 5:30 pm Eastern to plead guilty. News 12 will be at the federal courthouse in Nashville with any updates.
CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Robin Smith, the state representative for Hixson, has resigned from office, and it’s all due to a federal charge involving a wire fraud case.
When you look at the complaint against Robin Smith, and combine it with one incident that happened just a few months prior to it, it will make you wonder why any of this happened in the first place.
Back in May of 2019, the former state Speaker of the House, Glen Casada, was in the middle of a scandal where he, and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren, sent vile and racist text messages and emails to certain people. At the time, Robin Smith said she was publicly disgusted by the actions of Casada and Cothren.
Robin Smith in 2019:
“This entire situation is truly despicable. I have condemned in the harshest terms and words the behavior by three people, one of whom is the current speaker.”
Remember – that was in May of 2019. According to the filing, by August of that year, Smith was stumping for Cothren’s new consulting firm, which was created with a fake name in New Mexico… and Casada was part of the business. So, how can someone be so disgusted with two people one day, and just three months later, work on behalf of those people’s business?
Smith’s home and offices were raided by the F-B-I last January, as you see here.
That led her attorney at the time to say quote – Robin is —not— the target of the investigation, and she has —not —done anything wrong. The indictment tells a different story.
For her work, Smith received five different payments totaling over 38 thousand dollars. The document says that, not only did Smith work for Cothren’s allegedly fraudulent company, she profited from it.
Today, Smith officially resigned from her position, using this letter to do it.
News 12 has learned that Smith will appear in federal court tomorrow in Nashville, and plead guilty to the one charge of wire fraud.
In the studio, Scott Koral. News 12 Now.
