Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the Democrat leader of the Virginia state Senate, was charged Thursday with racketeering, money laundering, drug trafficking offenses, bribery, and more in a public corruption case related to her family marijuana business.
Attorney General Todd Blanche, FBI Director Kash Patel, and First Assistant United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Theophani Stamos announced the charges at a Norfolk, Virginia, press conference, where Blanche said the investigation predates the Trump administration. In addition to Lucas, her two daughters, a grandson, and three other associates were also charged.
“The charges alleged in this indictment reveal the behavior of a public servant who put her own financial interests before the people she was elected to serve. Our federal prosecutors will continue to be guided by the facts and evidence that led a grand jury to indict Ms. Lucas and her alleged co-conspirators,” Blanche said.
“The charges allege Lucas and a close-knit group of family members and associates used Lucas’ position as Chairwoman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to protect their criminal marijuana enterprise — the ‘Lucas Enterprise’ — insulating the business from criminal scrutiny and influencing legislation to financially benefit themselves,” Patel added.
The 52-page indictment against Lucas, the president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, was secured Oct. 14 and unsealed Thursday. Lucas surrendered herself to federal authorities.
The indictment places Lucas as the leader of the operation, in which she allegedly directed criminal activity, arranged for purchases and distribution of marijuana, laundered profits, and used her elected office to protect her operation against state and local authorities.
The indictment details a wire-tapped phone call where she said she sought to build “generational wealth,” and that she “got too old to not be greedy.”
It also appears to show her selling legislation, stating in a Nov. 15, 2025, text message trying to recover a $750,000 payment, “I received a message from you after the election wherein you stated that you have the answer. And, you know I will be carrying the legislation as the Chief Co-Patron. Yes, we can make a lot of money but, before we start down that road again; how about we begin with you sending at least a good faith payment of the money you owe me with arrangements for the balance. Then we can talk future business plans.”
Lucas’ $750,000 payment was allegedly to a shell company called “Mama’s Chicken, LLC,” for which the indictment says she and the co-conspirator “expected to obtain a Virginia recreational marijuana license.
The legal status of marijuana in Virginia is somewhat complicated, and legalization in the state has been phased in. Virginia currently allows businesses to sell marijuana for medical purposes, and recreational stores are supposed to be on the way. According to the indictment, Lucas attempted to have influence over licenses for recreational marijuana stores and push state policy to benefit her business.
While Virginia has five licensed marijuana growers, from 2022 to 2023, Lucas allegedly purchased roughly 100 pounds, or between $100,000 and $150,000 worth, of marijuana from a co-conspirator who is not licensed.
Lucas had been open about using her elected office for personal enrichment, stating in January 2022, “I’m a 78 year grandma who legalized pot and now has her own cannibis [sic] store. And I’m the last thing standing between The GOP and total control of Virginia. That’s worth an RT!” Lucas became infamous for her 10-1 Democrat gerrymander plan to disenfranchise millions of Republicans. Virginia’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled the scheme violated the state constitution.
In a statement released after the charges, Lucas said she would fight them, and characterized herself as a feeble old lady that the government was unfairly targeting, saying, “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.”
“I grew up under Jim Crow,” she added. “I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them.”
Other Democrats in Virginia seem to be a bit more reserved in their defense of Lucas. Sen. Scott Surovell, the Senate majority leader, said he believes the move was “driven by politics,” but in the same breath said that “the federal indictment unsealed this week contains serious allegations, and Senator Lucas is entitled to the same presumption of innocence that every American receives. … I will not comment on the evidence in this case, and I urge others to show the same restraint.”
Gov. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., who has a rocky relationship with Lucas, did not comment when asked earlier Thursday morning, but Attorney General Jay Jones, D-Va., issued a statement whose tone paralleled Surovell’s, stating that the “allegations against her must be rigorously tested through a full and fair legal process free from political interference or bias.”
Breccan F. Thies is the White House correspondent for The Federalist. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. As an investigative journalist, he previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.