Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas indicted on drug and money laundering charges

By Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — A Virginia grand jury has indicted Democratic state Sen. L. Louise Lucas and six others, including members of her family, on charges that she engaged in a racketeering conspiracy to sell marijuana and launder the proceeds.

According to the indictment, Lucas, the 82-year-old president pro tempore of Virginia’s senate who has pushed for the drug to be legalized, ran several businesses that purchased and sold illegal amounts of marijuana in the state to build her family’s wealth.

In a statement on the charges, FBI Director Kash Patel claimed Lucas, through “a close-knit group of family members and associates” worked to build a “criminal marijuana enterprise” and used the state senator’s “position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves.”

She is charged with crimes including racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to possess and distribute marijuana and conspiracy to launder money. Lucas has self surrendered to law enforcement, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.

“Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother,” Lucas said in a statement Thursday. “I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now.”

Lucas has long advocated for the legalization of marijuana in Virginia, including through legislation. The indictment, however, alleges Lucas and her co-conspirators for years sold and maintained illegal amounts of the drug allowed through her various businesses and shops.

The state recently passed a law that will allow regulated retail marijuana sales beginning on July 1, 2027. The indictment comes weeks before Election Day, but Lucas is not up for reelection this year. Her daughter Lisa Lucas-Burke, who was also charged in the indictment, is currently running for City Council in Portsmouth, Virginia.

CNN has attempted to reach Lucas for comment.

Virginia Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger said in a statement that she had read the charging document and that Lucas and her family “deserve the opportunity to present their defense and speak to the allegations presented.”

“The timing of this indictment undermines the U.S. Department of Justice’s previously longstanding policy of not taking legal actions — to include indictments or significant investigative steps — close to an election and sadly, this timing further erodes the trust the American people deserve to have in the Department of Justice,” Spanberger said.

Earlier this year, FBI agents executed search warrants on two of Lucas’s marijuana shops as part of an investigation that began under President Joe Biden. According to the indictment, agents recovered marijuana and firearms from both stores.

Lucas, who was elected to the state Senate in 1991, is also accused of paying $750,000 for a 100% stake in a shell holding company prosecutors allege was created for a co-conspirator to gain a Virginia license to sell marijuana. Prosecutors allege Lucas later received what the Justice Department called a “bribery payment” from the co-conspirator for her efforts.

The Justice Department alleged that Lucas “failed to report the interest obtained in this entity on her required Statement of Economic Interests forms” as a legislator.

“Lucas allegedly met with the co-conspirator at her office at the capitol complex to receive a partial repayment and spoke with other officials, including legislators, about the co-conspirator’s qualification for a recreational marijuana license depending on her receipt of a bribery payment from the co-conspirator,” the Justice Department alleged in a press release announcing the charges.

Investigators say in the indictment that in February, Lucas called an unidentified co-conspirator and discussed the person getting a recreational marijuana license and sharing the proceeds with her.

“This is our last chance at generational wealth,” investigators quoted Lucas telling the co-conspirator. “I’ve got too old to not be greedy.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

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