RICHMOND, Va. – Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most influential Democrats, was charged Thursday in connection with an alleged role leading a criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds, according to federal authorities.
Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, speaks in the senate during a reconvened legislative session to vote on the budget, Monday, June 22, 2026, in Richmond, Va. (Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via Getty Images)
What we know:
An indictment unsealed Thursday charged Lucas and six co-defendants, including several of her relatives, the Department of Justice said in a statement. A Justice Department spokesperson said Lucas self-surrendered on Thursday.
The charges, which include drug trafficking and money laundering, follow a May search by the FBI of Lucas’ hometown office and a cannabis shop in which she holds an ownership stake. At the time of the search, Lucas, a critic of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, characterized the operation as an attempt to intimidate her.
“This is the circus we always expected it to be, and we will wait for further details to have a more specific response,” Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel for the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
A statement posted to Lucas’ social media account did not directly address the substance of the charges, but said Thursday’s actions amounted to the federal government wielding its “full weight” against a great-grandmother.
“I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down,” Lucas said in the statement.
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The brazen 82-year-old lawmaker has spent decades climbing the ranks of Virginia politics and has served since 1992 in the state Senate, where she is president pro tempore, overseeing the chamber in the lieutenant governor’s absence.
She also leads the powerful Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, through which all legislation with a budget impact must pass, using the position to halt and ultimately kill legislation she opposes.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that the charges allege Lucas and a tight-knit group of family members and associates orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enhance their own criminal marijuana enterprise, designated “the Lucas Enterprise.”
Patel said Lucas used her position as finance chair to insulate the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and to influence legislation for personal financial benefit.
“No one is above the law,” Patel said in the statement, adding that the FBI will continue to follow the facts with the Justice Department to ensure those responsible for criminal conduct are held accountable.
The charges come as Lucas has been a leading voice in Democrats’ ultimately failed attempt to redistrict the state’s congressional map this year, a bid intended to hedge against Republican map-drawing efforts in other states ahead of midterm elections.
An advocate for marijuana legalization, Lucas partnered to open the shop, The Cannabis Outlet, in 2021 to sell hemp and CBD products. While marijuana is legal to possess in Virginia, recreational retail sales of the drug are not yet underway, though retail shops across the state sell other cannabis-derived products.
Lucas also operates a network of companies providing residential, transportation, and other services to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Court records related to the case had been sealed for months. Earlier this year, however, the Department of Justice sent multiple rounds of notification letters to journalists, politicians, and others in Lucas’ orbit informing them that their communications with the senator had been intercepted as part of a court-approved wiretap that ran for two one-month periods.
At the time of the May search, many Democrats defended Lucas, expressing skepticism about the basis for the raid given Department of Justice efforts to establish criminal conduct by perceived Trump opponents. A person familiar with the matter told the AP at the time that the probe was originally opened during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration.
Lucas has publicly spoken about her ownership stake in the cannabis shop, though her most recent financial disclosure forms do not list the business by name.
READ THE INDICTMENT: The 45-page indictment charges Lucas with Racketeering Conspiracy (Count 1), Conspiracy to Distribute Marijuana (Count 2), Conspiracy to Launder Money (Count 3), Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Fraud (Count 4), and Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premises (Count 5).
RICHMOND, VA – FEBRUARY 20: Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-18) at work in the statehouse, on February, 20, 2019 in Richmond, VA. (Photo by Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The Source: Information in this article comes from ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and SARAH RANKIN , Associated Press.