NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — Virginia Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, was indicted Thursday for allegedly leading a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered money.
Lucas, who has held elected office for decades, used her political power to shield the operation from scrutiny, according to the indictment against her and six other defendants, including several of her relatives. U.S. Attorney General Todd Branch, speaking at a press conference with FBI Director Kash Patel, said she “put her own financial interests ahead of the people she was elected to serve.”
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A Justice Department spokesman said Lucas has surrendered and is expected to make his first appearance in federal court Thursday afternoon.
Charges including drug trafficking and money laundering were filed after the FBI raided Lucas’ hometown offices and a marijuana shop in which she had a stake in May. At the time of the search, Lucas, who has been an outspoken critic of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration, described it as an attempt to intimidate her.
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“This is the circus we’ve been waiting for, and we’ll be waiting for more details to provide a more concrete response,” said Brian Woolfolk, chief counsel of the L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund.
Lucas says she won’t be bullied by federal government
A statement posted by Lucas on his social media account did not directly address the substance of the charges, but said Thursday’s actions amounted to the federal government going “full force” against the great-grandmother.
“I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. I will not back down,” Lucas said in the statement.
The brash 82-year-old lawmaker has spent decades rising through the ranks of Virginia politics and has served in the state Senate since 1992, where she is president pro tempore and oversees the House in the lieutenant governor’s absence. What’s more, she leads the powerful Senate Finance Committee, through which all legislation affecting the budget must pass. She used this position to block and ultimately repeal legislation she opposed.
Justice Department rejects any suggestion of political factors
The indictments come as Trump’s Justice Department faces intense scrutiny over investigations and prosecutions of the president’s enemies that critics say are politically motivated.
Branch rejected any suggestion of politics in Lucas’ case, noting that the investigation began long before Trump’s second administration began in January 2025.
“We don’t do political payback,” Branch told reporters.
A person familiar with the May search told The Associated Press at the time that the investigation was launched during the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden.
FBI charges ‘marijuana criminal enterprise’
In a statement, Patel said the charges allege that “Lucas and a group of close-knit family members and associates orchestrated a multi-year scheme to enrich their own criminal marijuana enterprise, ‘Lucas Enterprises’ – using Lucas’ position as chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committees to shield the enterprise from criminal scrutiny and influence legislation for their own financial gain.”
“No one is above the law, and the FBI will continue to work with our Department of Justice to pursue the facts and ensure those responsible for criminal conduct are held accountable,” the statement read.
Lucas has been a leading voice in Democrats’ failed attempt to redraw the state’s congressional maps this year, a move aimed at hedging Republican efforts in other states to redraw maps for advantage in the midterm elections.
Lucas has long supported legalizing marijuana
Lucas is a strong advocate for marijuana legalization, co-opening The Cannabis Outlet store in 2021, selling hemp and CBD products. While possession of marijuana is legal in Virginia, recreational retail sales of the drug have not yet begun, although stores across the state do sell other marijuana-derived products.
Lucas also runs a network of companies that provide accommodation, transportation and other services to adults with intellectual disabilities.
Court records related to the case have been sealed for months, but earlier this year the Justice Department sent out at least two rounds of letters notifying reporters, politicians and others around Lucas that their communications with him had been intercepted as part of a court-sanctioned wiretap that lasted two months.
At the time of the search, many Democrats defended Lucas and expressed doubts about the basis for the search, given the Justice Department’s efforts to establish criminal conduct by Trump opponents.
Lucas spoke publicly about her ownership stake in the cannabis store as recently as June, although her most recent financial disclosure form did not list the company by name.
Senators compare him to Trump
Lucas, who represents a state Senate district that includes her hometown of coastal Portsmouth, has operated in a sometimes profane and unapologetic style that has drawn comparisons to Trump.
She has amassed a six-figure following and national attention on X, using the social media platform to vigorously advocate for her priorities and blast her critics, including former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. She has occasionally lashed out at members of her own party, including Gov. Abigail Spanberger, with whom she has had disagreements.
Earlier this year, Lucas helped lead Democrats’ ultimately unsuccessful plan to draw the blue-leaning state’s congressional districts into a map designed to elect 10 Democrats and just one Republican. Along the way, she posted quips about the four Republican members the map is trying to oust, joking that they would soon be working at McDonald’s. She and other Democrats argue the maps are a legitimate response to Trump-backed efforts to bolster Republican midterm advantages in other states.
Lucas has been in politics for decades
Lucas set several historic firsts during her career. In 1971, she became the first female shipwright at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, a physically demanding job that involved metal assembly for ships, according to a state library biography.
She began her political career in 1984, when she became the first black woman to serve as a Portsmouth city councillor, the biography states.
During his decades in the state Senate, Lucas has been a staunch advocate for abortion rights, increased funding for public schools and provided leadership on racial justice and civil rights issues.
In 2019, after Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives, her colleagues elected her speaker pro tempore. In 2024, she was appointed to lead the Chamber of Commerce Budget Committee, giving her significant influence over any legislation related to the state budget. In that article, she played a leading role in killing Youngkin’s proposal to bring Washington’s NBA and NHL teams to a $2 billion development in Virginia.
Rankin reported from Richmond. Associated Press reporter Eric Tucker contributed from Washington.
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