Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas indicted on drug and fraud charges

Ryan M. Kelly/AP/File

A Virginia grand jury has indicted Democratic state Sen. L. Louise Lucas and several 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 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 alleged Lucas, through “a close-knit group of family members and associates,” worked to build a “criminal marijuana enterprise” and used her “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, according to a Justice Department spokesperson.

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.

CNN has attempted to reach Lucas for comment.

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.

“Louise Lucas has served in a position of public trust in the Commonwealth of Virginia for over three decades,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Thursday. “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.”

This story is developing and will be updated.

Ryan M. Kelly/美联社/档案照片

弗吉尼亚州大陪审团起诉了民主党州参议员 L·路易丝·卢卡斯及其家人等数人，指控她参与了敲诈勒索阴谋，贩卖大麻并洗钱。

根据起诉书，卢卡斯是弗吉尼亚州参议院临时议长，她一直推动大麻合法化。她经营着多家企业，在该州购买和出售非法数量的大麻，以积累其家族财富。

在一份关于这些指控的声明中，联邦调查局局长卡什·帕特尔称，卢卡斯通过“一个关系密切的家庭成员和同伙”建立了一个“犯罪大麻企业”，并利用她“作为参议院财政和拨款委员会主席的职位，使该企业免受刑事审查，并影响立法以从中获利”。

她被控犯有敲诈勒索阴谋罪、持有和分销大麻阴谋罪以及洗钱阴谋罪。据司法部发言人称，卢卡斯已主动投案自首。

卢卡斯长期以来一直倡导弗吉尼亚州大麻合法化，包括通过立法途径。然而，起诉书指控卢卡斯及其同谋多年来通过其名下的各种企业和店铺出售和持有非法数量的大麻。

CNN已尝试联系卢卡斯以获取评论。

今年早些时候，联邦调查局特工对卢卡斯的两家大麻商店执行了搜查令，这是拜登总统任期内启动的一项调查的一部分。根据起诉书，特工在两家商店都查获了大麻和枪支。

卢卡斯于1991年当选州参议员，她还被指控支付75万美元购买了一家空壳控股公司100%的股份。检方称，这家空壳控股公司是为一名同谋设立的，目的是为了获得弗吉尼亚州的大麻销售许可证。检方还指控卢卡斯后来因其协助该同谋而从其处获得了司法部所称的“贿赂”。

司法部指控卢卡斯作为立法者时“未在其要求的《经济利益声明表》中申报其在该实体中获得的利益”。

“据称，卢卡斯在国会大厦的办公室与同谋会面，以收取部分偿还款项，并与其他官员（包括立法者）讨论了同谋是否有资格获得娱乐用大麻许可证，这取决于她是否从同谋那里收到贿赂款项，”司法部在宣布指控的新闻稿中称。

“路易丝·卢卡斯在弗吉尼亚州担任公职超过三十年，”弗吉尼亚州总检察长托德·布兰奇周四在一份声明中表示。“这份起诉书中的指控揭露了一名公职人员将自身经济利益置于其所服务的民众之上的行为。我们的联邦检察官将继续以事实和证据为指导，正是这些事实和证据促使大陪审团对卢卡斯女士及其同谋提起诉讼。”

此事件仍在发展中，我们将持续更新报道。