NORFOLK, Va. — Federal authorities on Thursday charged a prominent Virginia Democrat with racketeering and money laundering conspiracy in connection with an alleged public corruption case involving a cannabis company she co-owns.
Virginia State Sen. L. Louise Lucas, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump and one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, surrendered to authorities Thursday, a Justice Department spokesperson said. She was also charged with conspiracy to distribute marijuana. Half a dozen other people were also in custody and charged in connection with the alleged scheme.
The investigation into Lucas, 82, predates the Trump administration, NBC News previously reported. But the Justice Department’s move, just 12 days before a midterm election, is unusual, as federal authorities have generally avoided taking overt investigative action against political figures so close to an election. Lucas is not up for re-election this year but has ties to prominent Democrats who are on the ballot.
NBC News has reached out to Lucas’ office, his legal counsel and Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger for comment.
Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were scheduled to hold a news conference about the arrest in Norfolk, Virginia.
In May, federal agents searched Lucas’ office in Portsmouth, as well as a business she co-owns called The Cannabis Outlet, located on High Street. U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, D-Va., said his communications with Lucas were monitored and the Justice Department had become “Trump’s own personal law firm, with his former personal attorney pursuing vendettas against Trump’s political enemies.”
A reporter for WAVY, an NBC affiliate, also received a notification letter stating that his communications with Lucas’ number had been scrubbed.
The indictment alleges that members of the conspiracy “used various business entities” to “conceal revenues from the illegal distribution of marijuana” and that Lucas “used his political position in the Virginia State Senate to protect” the business “from criminal control, in order to further the goal of wealth accumulation.”
In a February 2026 intercepted phone call with an alleged co-conspirator who has not been charged, Lucas allegedly said it was their “last chance at generational wealth,” adding, “I’ve gotten too old to not be greedy.”
Lucas is a supporter of marijuana legalization in Virginia. The state now allows marijuana possession for adults over 21, but recreational marijuana sales remain illegal.
This is about to change; This summer, the governor and state lawmakers announced an agreement allowing licensed retail sales of marijuana starting July 1, 2027.
Lucas’ political career began more than four decades ago, when she was elected to the Portsmouth City Council. She was elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1991.
The Virginia Senate is made up of 40 members who serve four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $18,000, a figure set in 1988. Members also receive mileage reimbursement and a per diem while the General Assembly is in session.
The Justice Department has filed several controversial lawsuits against Trump’s political targets during his second term. Three weeks before the midterm elections, federal officials searched the home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Ohmar of Minnesota as part of an immigration-related investigation and seized her phone. She said she would not be silenced.
The office of Jeanine Pirro, the former judge and Fox News host whom Trump named top federal prosecutor in the nation’s capital, attempted to charge six sitting members of Congress over a social media video that Trump didn’t like. A criminal case against former FBI Director James Comey over an Instagram photo of seashells is still pending.
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