Volkswagen and Mercedes line up tariff-friendly battery supplies in deals with Canada

Bloomberg News | August 22, 2022 | 

Factory site for Volkswagen parts in Braunschweig. (Image courtesy of Volkswagen Group).

Volkswagen AG and Mercedes-Benz Group AG have sealed agreements with Canada to secure access to raw materials such as nickel, cobalt and lithium for battery production, according to people familiar with the accords.


The memorandums of understanding will be signed Tuesday in Toronto, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in attendance said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

VW’s agreement is designed to shorten supply chains for its facilities in the US and avoid difficulties linked to tariffs and tax regulations, said one of the people. The move has partly been prompted by new rules that US President Joe Biden signed into law last week, the person added.

A spokesperson for VW said the carmaker and its dedicated unit for its battery business, called PowerCo, are working on ramping up their battery activities, “especially reliable and sustainable supply chains.”

“This holds true for the very promising North American market as well,” the spokesperson said by email. A spokesperson for Mercedes declined to comment.

The Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act allows consumers to continue getting as much as $7,500 in tax credits for electric vehicles if manufacturers meet new content requirements. Minerals must be extracted from or processed in countries the US has a free trade agreement with, and a large percentage of battery components need to be manufactured or assembled in North America.

Automakers including VW, Mercedes and Stellantis NV have embarked on ambitious plans to make batteries. VW is planning six facilities in Europe alone, while Mercedes has joined Stellantis in a 7 billion-euro ($7 billion) battery venture and is pursuing a total of eight facilities globally.

VW is also considering setting up an in-house battery cell manufacturing operation in North America, Johan De Nysschen, chief operating officer of Volkswagen of America, said in June.

The goal would be to ease a coming battery shortage by supplementing suppliers with its own production, De Nysschen said in an interview at the company’s new battery testing lab in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The board was still weighing the idea, and no final decision had been made, he added.

A business delegation including VW Chief Executive Officer Herbert Diess is traveling with Scholz on his Canada trip, his first there since he took office at the end of last year. Diess, who will be replaced as CEO on Sept. 1, said last month that the company was looking at sites for a US battery facility that would supply packs to its auto plant in Chattanooga.


Scholz will hold several meetings with Trudeau as the Group of Seven and NATO partners move to deepen cooperation in areas including energy and security.

The German leader, who is also accompanied by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, wants to enlist Canada to help Europe’s biggest economy reduce its reliance on Russia for energy and raw materials.

Canada “has similar rich natural resources as Russia — with the difference that it is a reliable democracy,” Scholz told reporters during the flight over.

“This opens up new fields of cooperation,” he added. “We want to cooperate closely, especially when it comes to building a hydrogen economy.”

(By Michael Nienaber, with assistance from Craig Trudell, Eric Pfanner and Stefan Nicola)

Samarco mine disaster settlement talks irk Brazil officials as deadline approaches

Bloomberg News | August 24, 2022 |

Reconstruction efforts at Samarco’s Fundão tailings dam in 2017. (Image courtesy of BHP)

The latest talks over a multibillion-dollar settlement for a 2015 mining disaster failed to yield a deal, with Brazilian officials signaling the two sides are still far apart with time running out.


“We don’t have an agreement and no perspective that we’ll have one,” Minas Gerais State Planning Secretary Luisa Barreto said in an interview Wednesday after a new round of conversations in Brasilia with representatives of the Samarco iron ore mine and its owners Vale SA and BHP Group.

Without saying how much the companies are offering, Barreto said their proposal falls short of the required environmental and social compensation for a tailings dam collapse that killed as many as 19 people and contaminated waterways in two states. Minas Gerais Attorney General Jarbas Soares Jr. said on Twitter that authorities won’t return to the negotiating table unless there’s a “minimally worthy” new offer.

The companies previously offered 52 billion reais ($10 billion), people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month. That compares with a 155 billion-real public civil action for reparation.

Brazil’s Supreme Court President Luiz Fux has been acting as mediator in the renegotiation process after an initial arrangement failed to address many of the needs, with allegations of shortfalls in the foundation created to manage payments.

Fux has committed to resolving the case before stepping down on Sept. 9 in an attempt to give affected communities a clear framework for reparations and replace other lawsuits. After that, authorities would undertake the necessary measures to obtain reparations, Barreto said, without elaborating.

Samarco, Vale and BHP said they remain committed to repairing the damage caused by the dam collapse, and to the negotiation process. BHP said the Renova Foundation, which was created to compensate for and repair damages, has disbursed 23 billion reais and provided aid for more than 389,000 people.

Samarco has been under bankruptcy protection since April 2021 as it seeks an agreement with creditors.

(By Mariana Durao)

Related: Damage from Brazil’s Samarco disaster at least $6.7bn, study says

Mexico creates state-run lithium company, to go live within 6 months

Reuters | August 23, 2022 

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. (Image by Gobierno Danilo Medina, Flickr).

Mexico, which nationalized lithium resources in April, has created a state-run company to mine the metal, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in a decree issued in the national gazette Tuesday afternoon.


The company will be called Litio para Mexico, or Lithium for Mexico, the decree read, and will begin operations within the next six months.

Lopez Obrador vowed to keep lithium resources in the state’s hands after suffering a blow earlier this year with the rejection of an electricity reform proposal, which would have given more preferences to Mexico’s state-run energy company.

Lithium is a key component in electric vehicle batteries.

Related: Business group blasts Mexico’s new lithium law as violating trade deal

Litio para Mexico’s new head will be proposed by the energy minister and appointed by the president, according to the decree.

The country’s energy minister, as well as the finance minister, economy minister, interior minister and environment minister will sit on the company’s board.

Mexico does not yet have commercial lithium production, though a handful of foreign companies hold contracts to explore potential lithium deposits. Lopez Obrador had said in April that all contracts would be reviewed.

The decree said that Litio para Mexico may work with either public or private institutions to mine for what has become known as “white gold.”

Business groups blasted the nationalization of lithium after it was announced, while some have said it could trigger a constitutional dispute.

(By Kylie Madry; Editing by Leslie Adler)

India Revives Oilfield After 15 Years Of Slumber

By Charles Kennedy - Aug 22, 2022

Production has restarted at the Khagorijan field in the Indian state of Assam after a 15-year pause, Indian media have reported, adding that production was suspended in 2007 due to environmental and regulatory issues.

The Khagorijan field was discovered in 1998, and first oil was extracted in 2004. However, severe erosion at the nearby Brahmaputra River caused local communities to start protesting against oil production in the area and interfering with the production process.

Things came to a head in 2007 when Oil India Limited decided to suspend production at the field. Now, according to Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, measures have been taken to secure the river and prevent further erosion and the consequent adverse effects on local communities.

India is overwhelmingly dependent on imports to satisfy its oil demand and has been desperately trying to boost local production to alleviate the import load as much as possible.

Besides the restart of the Khagorijan field in Assam, India’s state-owned ONGC recently signed a preliminary deal with Exxon for deepwater exploration off India’s east and west coasts.

Meanwhile, India’s oil production is declining, averaging 600,000 barrels daily in June, down 4 percent from May and 1.6 percent from June 2021, Reuters reported earlier this month. The number was also 3 percent lower than expectations.

The latest import figures, for July, pegged the average at 4.63 million barrels daily, down 3.2 percent from June as refiners prepared for scheduled maintenance. Of this, some 877,000 bpd came from Russia and 825,000 bpd came from Saudi Arabia.

Because of its deep dependence on imports, India has become a top buyer of Russian oil after European sanctions reduced flows to Russia’s largest oil market. Discounts also helped, although these have been shrinking since spring. Earlier this year, Russia even overtook Saudi Arabia as India’s largest supplier of crude oil.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

MEDITERRANEAN OIL WAR(PENDING)

Eni, TotalEnergies Make Major Gas Discovery Off Cyprus

By Tsvetana Paraskova - Aug 22, 2022, 

European majors Eni and TotalEnergies announced on Monday a significant gas discovery offshore Cyprus, just as Europe scrambles to secure non-Russian gas supplies.

Eni, as operator of Block 6 offshore Cyprus, and its partner TotalEnergies encountered in the Cronos-1 well, an important gas column in a carbonate reservoir sequence of fair to excellent properties, the Italian energy firm said.

Preliminary estimates indicate there are about 2.5 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas in place, “with significant additional upside that will be investigated by a further exploration well in the area,” Eni added.

The gas discovery at the Cronos-1 well can unlock additional potential in the area and is part of Eni’s successful effort to provide further gas supply to Europe, the group noted.

The Cronos-1 well is the fourth exploration well drilled by Eni Cyprus and the second well in Block 6, following the gas discovery of Calypso-1 in 2018.

“This successful exploration well at Cronos-1 is another illustration of the impact of our Exploration strategy which is focused on discovering resources with low technical cost and low carbon emissions, to contribute to energy security including to provide an additional sources of gas supply to Europe,” said Kevin McLachlan, Senior Vice President, Exploration, at TotalEnergies.

The Eastern Mediterranean is expected to be one of the interesting spots for high-impact oil and gas drilling activity this year, analysts said earlier this month.

The development of gas supply in close proximity to Europe could help the EU reduce its dependence on Russian pipeline deliveries this decade. Russian supply to major European economies, including Germany and Italy, has been significantly reduced since the start of the summer. Russian giant Gazprom says Western sanctions against Russia prevent it from receiving and installing a gas turbine at a compressor station along Nord Stream, the key gas route from Russia to Germany.  

Last week, Gazprom said it would stop all gas flows to Europe via Nord Stream from August 31 until September 2 due to maintenance work at the Trent 60 gas compressor station, which would be carried out with Siemens.    

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Indian Billionaire Gautam Adani Makes Hostile Takeover Bid for NDTV

Naman Ramachandran 

Wed, August 24, 2022 a

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, chair of the $240 billion Adani Group, is in the process of making a hostile takeover bid for New Delhi Television (NDTV), one of the country’s most trusted news sources.

On Tuesday, Adani’s AMG Media Networks Limited (AMNL) acquired some 29% of NDTV indirectly, by buying out loans to the company. The value of the transaction was not disclosed. AMNL also made an open offer to acquire a further 26% of NDTV, but at INR294 ($3.68) per share, a discount of 20%  on the company’s existing share value.

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NDTV said in a statement that the loan buyout “was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders, who, like NDTV, have been made aware of this exercise of rights only today. As recently as yesterday, NDTV had informed the stock exchanges that there was no change in the shareholding of its founders.”

“NDTV has never compromised on the heart of its operations – its journalism. We continue to proudly stand by that journalism,” the statement added.

NDTV was founded in 1984 by Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy. It currently operates two news channels and is known for being a watchdog of democracy by fearlessly questioning those in power, irrespective of which political party they belong to. As such, it has the reputation of being one of the few remaining independent – and therefore credible – news outlets in India.

With a market capitalization of $310 million, NDTV reported 2021 revenues of $45 million.

Adani, currently the fourth richest person in the world – and the richest man in Asia – with a net worth of $135 billion, according to the latest Bloomberg Billionaires Index, is close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Adani group has interests in the port management, electric power generation and transmission, renewable energy, mining, airport operations, natural gas, food processing and infrastructure sectors.

Unlike the other major billionaire-led group in India, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, which has significant media holdings, including digital rights ownership of the lucrative Indian Premier League cricket tournament, Adani’s media holdings are modest. AMNL was set up in April this year to be in “the business of publishing, broadcasting, distributing and advertising,” per a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange. The first step in building the Adani media empire was the May acquisition of a 49% stake in Quintillion Business Media, a digital business news platform.

“This acquisition is a significant milestone in the journey of AMNL’s goal to pave the path of new age media across platforms,” said Sanjay Pugalia, CEO of AMG Media Networks, in a statement, while revealing the NDTV stake.

“AMNL seeks to empower Indian citizens, consumers and those interested in India, with information and knowledge. With its leading position in news and its strong and diverse reach across genres and geographies, NDTV is the most suitable broadcast and digital platform to deliver on our vision. We look forward to strengthening NDTV’s leadership in news delivery,” the statement added.

ETHIOPIA'S WAR OF AGGRESSION
Fighting erupts along border of Ethiopia's northern Tigray region
 

Abiy Ahmed
Ethiopian Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize laureate

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael

Wed, August 24, 2022 at 1:07

NAIROBI (Reuters) -Fighting between forces from Ethiopia's rebellious northern region of Tigray and central government forces has erupted around the town of Kobo, residents and both sides said on Wednesday, ending a months-long ceasefire.

The fighting is a major blow to hopes for peace talks between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that controls Tigray.

Each side blamed the other for the outbreak of fighting.

"At 5am today (the TPLF) has attacked on the Eastern Front; from Bisober, Zobel and Tekulshe direction ... it has effectively broken the ceasefire," the government's communications service said in a statement.

A day earlier, as social media lit up with allegations of troops on the move, the military accused the Tigrayan forces of preparing to attack and cover their tracks by spreading fake news of military movements.

"It has become an open secret that they (the TPLF) are campaigning to incriminate our army," said the statement, accusing the TPLF of mounting "pre-conflict propaganda".

In turn, the military command of the Tigrayan forces accused the government of violating the ceasefire, saying in a statement it believed the attack near Kobo, to the south of Tigray, was a diversion and its forces expected a major attack from the west.

TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael, in his own statement to the international community, said, "The peace process is being set up to fail" and accused the government of trying to block investigations into war crimes, withhold key services and blockade the region.

A government spokesman did not return a message seeking comment, but the government has repeatedly said it is not blockading Tigray. 

Ethiopia has tried to block funding https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-pushes-block-un-funding-abuse-inquiry-2022-03-30 for a U.N. enquiry into abuses.

Three residents around Kobo reported hearing heavy weapons since early morning. They also said there had been movement of Ethiopian soldiers, Amhara special forces and volunteer Fano militia in the past two days.

They said they did not know who had started the fighting. Reuters could not immediately get information on the movements of Tigrayan forces. Telephone connections inside Tigray have been down for more than a year.

Redwan Hussein, national security adviser to the prime minister, said the Ethiopian army had shot down a plane carrying weapons to Tigray which entered Ethiopian airspace from neighbouring Sudan. He did not share the location where the plane was shot down.

TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda in a tweet said the statement was "a blatant lie". A Sudanese military spokesman was not reachable for comment.

The fighting in Africa's second most populous nation has displaced millions of people, pushed parts of Tigray into famine and killed thousands of civilians.

LONG WAR

War erupted in Tigray in November 2020 and spilled into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara a year ago. Last November, Tigrayan forces marched towards Addis Ababa, but were driven back by a government offensive that month.

A ceasefire was announced in March after both sides fought to a bloody stalemate and the government declared a humanitarian truce, allowing badly needed food aid into the region.

In June, Abiy's government formed a committee to negotiate with the TPLF, and earlier this month the government said it wanted talks "with no preconditions". Tigray's government has called for the restoration of services to civilians before talks begin, a call echoed by diplomats.

Tigray has been without banking and communication services since the military pulled out at the end of June. Imports of fuel are restricted, limiting the distribution of aid.

On Wednesday, the United Nations said Tigrayan forces had seized 12 fuel tankers from a warehouse in Mekelle. The TPLF was not immediately available for comment.

Almost 90% of people in the region need aid, the United Nations said, warning that rates of malnutrition had "skyrocketed" and the situation will worsen until October's harvest.

On Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for a ceasefire, peace talks, full humanitarian access and the reestablishment of public services in Tigray.

The U.S. State Department called on the Ethiopian government and the TPLF to redouble efforts to advance talks for a durable ceasefire.

(Reporting by Nairobi newsroom; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie, Frank Jack Daniel and Leslie Adler)

ANTI MIRGRANT TROPE
Italy’s Meloni shocks opponents with alleged rape video

By COLLEEN BARRY

August 22, 2022

Fratelli d' Italia (Brothers of Italy) party leader Giorgia Meloni speaks during a center-right opposition rally in Rome's central Piazza del Popolo, Saturday, July 4, 2020. The far-right candidate, who aspires to be Italy’s first female premier, came under fire Monday Aug. 22, 2022 from opponents for posting a pixelized video that purports to show a woman being raped by an asylum seeker. 

(AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca, File)


MILAN (AP) — The far-right candidate who aspires to be Italy’s first female leader came under fire Monday from opponents for posting a pixelized video that purports to show a woman being raped by an asylum-seeker.

Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the Brothers of Italy party that has neo-fascist roots, on Sunday evening reposted a video on Twitter from an Italian news site that was taken by a witness from a window overlooking the street. The woman, identified as Ukrainian, can be heard yelling in distress. A 27-year-old asylum-seeker from Guinea has been arrested in the sexual assault, according to Italian media reports.

“One cannot remain silent front of this atrocious episode of sexual violence in broad daylight in Piacenza by an asylum-seeker,” Meloni wrote. “A hug for this woman. I will do everything possible to restore security to our cities.”

Her main opponent in the Sept. 25 vote, Democratic Party leader Enrico Letta, countered in a radio interview that reposting the video went beyond “the bounds of dignity and decency.”

A former education minister, Lucia Azzolina, said posting the alleged rape video “is not an official criminal complaint, but instrumentalization” of violence.

“(Seeing) a woman, candidate to run the country, using this media, is chilling,” Azzolina said.

And Carlo Calenda, leader of a small, new centrist party called Action, said “Meloni has done something not worthy of a civilized country, and against women.”

Meloni’s allusion to security in Italian cities is a right-wing theme in this election campaign, which also hits at immigration. She was backed by coalition partner Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing League party and former firebrand interior minister, who pledged that “defending our borders and Italians will be a duty for me, not a right.”

In a video response to Letta’s criticism, Meloni emphasized that no one is identifiable in the video and that the center-left leader had failed to condemn the attack itself.

“Why don’t you speak of this? Because otherwise you need to come to terms with the fact that security in our cities is out of control, thanks also to the surreal immigration policies that you have pursued,” Meloni said.

Polls show the Brothers of Italia having a potential lead with voters over the Democratic Party ahead of the parliamentary election, but neither have enough support to govern alone.

Meloni can expect a significant boost from her coalition partners — the League and Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right Forza Italia party — while Letta is aligned with much smaller parties.

CLIMATE CHANGE IN CRUZ COUNTRY

'The grass is gone': Texas drought means more cattle facing slaughter

Wed, August 24, 2022 

STORY: The Caney Creek Ranch is about halfway between Houston and Dallas, and owner Wesley Ratcliff and his herd are weathering a hot, dry summer.

Texas, the nation's top beef-producing state, is in the grips of a drought that's forcing ranchers such as Ratcliff to pick between the raising cows, or slaughtering them.

Ratcliff has already begun to cull, selling fifty animals from his 500-head herd earlier this year.

"They were older mama cows and they might have gone and had another her baby for us. But rather than wait on them to have another baby, we went on to ship them to the, to the meat factory and I call it a meat factory to make it sound good.”

Since mid-July, more than 93 percent of Texas was in drought, ranging from moderate to exceptional drought, according to the United States Drought Monitor.

Exceptional drought - or D4, the highest level - is classified by widespread loss of pastures and crops as well as water shortages in reservoirs, streams and wells creating emergencies. As of the middle of August, more than a quarter of Texas was in exceptional drought.

And you see that playing out here, at the East Texas Livestock Auction in Crockett.

"the grass is gone. The cows are beginning to lose weight. The cows are weak because there's no protein. So we're getting rid of a lot of cows.”

Paul Craycraft is a co-owner of this auction. He said in normal times, most of the cows bought here are put to pasture, with just a minority going to the slaughterhouse. But the drought changed that.

"Normally, you'll see maybe 40 percent of the cows in the sale will be slaughtered, or maybe 30percent. As it is, 75 percent for the last two months are going to slaughter. They're not going back home because home has no grass."

More cows sold to slaughter means fewer mature cows birthing calves. Texas accounts for as much as 14 percent of the U.S. cattle herd, and, one way or another, consumers are going to feel the effects of the drought at the butcher shop and grocery store.

David Anderson is an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University.

“The pressure will be on for higher prices, higher cattle prices, higher beef prices, over the next several years as the effects of this are felt. And so, you know, from a consumer standpoint, we're going to face tighter supplies of beef and tighter supplies of beef with nothing else going on means higher prices.”

Despite the hardship, Wesley Ratcliff keeps in mind this isn't his first drought.

“We had a drought in 2011 and people dropped out of the industry. [edit] I sold a few cows in 2011. I didn't sell a lot of them and I was so glad I didn't because when the market picked back up, I was able to sell cows that I wouldn't have been able to sell for the price that I was getting for."

He says he'll again try and buckle down, and pray for rain.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M; REPUBLICAN RIP OFF
Former Tennessee Speaker Casada arrested in corruption probe

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and JONATHAN MATTISE

1 of 9

Rep. Glen Casada, R-Franklin, top center, is sworn in with other members on the first day of the legislative session Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee’s disgraced former House Speaker Glen Casada and his top aide were arrested Tuesday on federal charges including bribery, kickbacks and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Their indictments follow the abrupt resignation in March of Republican Rep. Robin Smith, who pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges involving Casada and his chief of staff, Cade Cothren. Afterward, speculation swirled about what additional charges might come in the corruption probe.

FBI agents arrested Casada and Cothren at their homes Tuesday morning. If convicted, they each face up to 20 years in prison. Both pleaded not guilty Tuesday and received pretrial release with travel restricted to the middle district of Tennessee unless otherwise approved.

The 20-count charging document alleges Casada and Cothren exploited their positions of power by working with another unnamed lawmaker to funnel money to themselves using a political consulting firm — known as Phoenix Solutions, LLC — to conceal their involvement.

Cothren registered the firm in New Mexico because the state allows anonymous registration of LLCs, and rebuffed requests for in-person meetings with Casada’s fellow lawmakers, saying the company representatives were out of state.

The trio deceived other Tennessee lawmakers in a conspiracy “to enrich themselves by obtaining bribes and kickbacks from Cothren, in exchange for securing the approval of Phoenix Solutions as a mailer program vendor,” a Justice Department news release said.

Outside the courthouse afterward, Cothren’s attorney, Cynthia Sherwood, told reporters Cothren plans on “strongly defending the charges” and that he “looks very forward to being vindicated.” Cothren himself told a reporter, “the truth will come out.”

Casada and his attorneys declined to answer reporters’ questions as they left.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who succeeded his fellow Republican in the leadership post, testified as a witness in the investigation in front of a grand jury in March. Other lawmakers and former and current staffers testified as well. Sexton has said he has assisted federal authorities in the investigation since becoming speaker in 2019.

Revelations about the case also prompted lawmakers to pass tougher state campaign finance and ethics requirements this year.

“Today is a good day for Tennesseans because we did not turn a blind eye on these criminal activities,” Sexton said.

Under her plea deal, Smith also promised to cooperate as a potential witness.

Casada resigned as speaker in 2019 but held onto his seat after revelations that he and Cothren had exchanged sexually explicit text messages about women years earlier. He is not running for reelection this year. Cothren lost his legislative job in the texting scandal, but remained involved in Republican politics

FBI agents searched the homes and offices of several state lawmakers in January 2021, including those of Casada and Smith, and the home of Cothren.

The charging documents revealed Tuesday say Cothren launched Phoenix Solutions with Smith’s and Casada’s “knowledge and support” to offer mail and consulting services to lawmakers. All three claimed the firm was run by a “Matthew Phoenix” when in fact it was a made-up alias for Cothren, and Casada knew the name was fictitious, the documents allege.

The documents allege Smith emailed Cothren at one point saying he “may have to assume the role of Matthew again.” He replied saying, “Matthew, reporting for duty!” and included a GIF of “a salute from Harrison Ford’s character Han Solo in the movie Star Wars,” officials said.

Federal investigators said a separate text exchange showed Casada texted Cothren in late 2019 saying “I think this is starting off well I’m pleased!” Cothren later cautioned that “we just have to make sure no one knows it’s me involved,” they said.

When Casada raised concerns about lawmakers wanting “representatives from Phoenix” to make an in-person presentation, Cothren responded that they would remind lawmakers “they live in New Mexico. Will have to get on the phone for it and I could disguise my voice if I has (sic) to.”

Phoenix Solutions received roughly $52,000 from the state in payments associated with the mailer program, according to the charging documents.

Meanwhile, Cothren continues to fight a subpoena over the state campaign finance regulators’ investigation into the Faith Family Freedom Fund PAC.

Ahead of the 2020 GOP primary election, the political action committee targeted then-Rep. Rick Tillis, the brother of North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. Rick Tillis lost to Republican Rep. Todd Warner, who was among those subject to the FBI searches in January 2021.

The Tennessee Registry of Election Finance decided to reopen its probe into the PAC after its treasurer testified in January that she is Cothren’s former girlfriend and opened the PAC because Cothren asked her to. She said Cothren assured her she was doing nothing wrong and that she took no further action.

Cothren has informed the registry that he is invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and won’t abide by its subpoena. The registry handed the case off to state prosecutors. The state has sued over Cothren’s refusal.

Casada also was subpoenaed, and told the registry he wasn’t involved with the PAC. Casada opted to run for Williamson County clerk this year instead of his statehouse seat, and lost in the GOP primary.