Virginia state Sen. Lillie Louise Lucas has been indicted on racketeering charges for leading a criminal marijuana distribution enterprise that used her political position to protect its operations and financially benefit her family and associates, according to an eight-count indictment unsealed Thursday.
The indictment charges Lucas and six other defendants with racketeering conspiracy involving marijuana distribution, money laundering, honest services fraud through bribery, maintaining drug-involved premises, possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking, and wire fraud.
Prosecutors allege Lucas directed a five-year scheme estimated at $4.5 million, including the acquisition and distribution of at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and the laundering of its proceeds.
The alleged enterprise included Lucas’s two daughters, her grandson and other associates. Lucas allegedly used her position as chairwoman of Virginia’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee to shield the operation from criminal scrutiny and influence legislation for its benefit.
Prosecutors also allege that in August 2022 she paid $750,000 for a 100% stake in a shell company tied to a co-conspirator’s expected recreational marijuana license, failed to disclose the interest on her required ethics forms, met the co-conspirator at her capitol office to receive a partial repayment, and spoke with other officials, including legislators, about the co-conspirator’s license qualification depending on receipt of a bribery payment.
The FBI executed federal search warrants at The Cannabis Outlet and The CBD Shoppe on May 6, recovering marijuana and firearms at both locations. Lucas opened The Cannabis Outlet with her daughter in 2021, and the indictment also alleges that a business partner submitted materially false information on a federal disaster loan application.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Read the Justice Dept. Press Release
