The Justice Department announced Thursday that it had arrested Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas and three family members on charges of running a drug trafficking and money laundering conspiracy based on illegal marijuana sales.
The charges against Ms. Lucas, an 82-year-old Democrat who has been a steadfast critic of President Trump, were filed months after federal agents raided her Portsmouth office and a cannabis shop in which she holds an ownership stake.
Ms. Lucas surrendered to authorities Thursday, the Justice Department said. FBI Director Kash Patel said the Virginia Senate president pro tempore received nearly $5 million in illicit cash since 2021 as part of the alleged scheme.
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“The purpose of her enterprise included trafficking large quantities of illegal marijuana, creating generational wealth for members and associates of her criminal enterprise, recycling drug proceeds to expand the operation that she launched and created, and steering marijuana licenses to entities in which members held financial interest,” Mr. Patel said.
Ms. Lucas, who made waves this year after advocating for redrawing Virginia’s congressional map, was defiant in the face of the federal charges, which could put her behind bars for the rest of her life.
“Today, the FBI, the Department of Justice, and the full weight of the federal government have been wielded against an 82-year-old great-grandmother,” Ms. Lucas wrote in a statement. “I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now.”
Brian Woolfolk, the senator’s attorney, separately said, “This is the circus we always expected it to be.”
Ms. Lucas’ daughters, Lisa L. Lucas-Burke and Theresa Lynn Lucas-Lamb, were also charged in the conspiracy, as was her grandson Ryan Eichelberger.
Ms. Lucas-Burke is a candidate for Portsmouth City Council in the Nov. 3 general election.
Although personal marijuana use is legal in the commonwealth, the state will not allow the substance to be sold recreationally until July 1, 2027.
Charging documents said Ms. Lucas sought to exploit Virginia’s incoming commercial marijuana market by steering licenses to select businesses.
Ms. Lucas told an unindicted co-conspirator in February that dictating who was granted a license was “our last chance at generational wealth. … I’ve got too old to not be greedy,” according to the documents.
Prosecutors said Ms. Lucas, who began co-owning The Cannabis Outlet in 2021, had been illegally selling marijuana out of the store. Her business bought 100 pounds of marijuana for $100,000 to $150,000 in late 2022 and early 2023, the filing said.
Ms. Lucas is accused of paying $750,000 to an unindicted co-conspirator in August 2022 for total ownership of a shell company called Mama’s Chicken LLC, which was intended to receive a Virginia recreational marijuana license once the lawmaker helped secure passage of the legalization bill.
Ms. Lucas pressured the unindicted co-conspirator to reimburse her for the Mama’s Chicken purchase roughly two months later, according to prosecutors.
The lawmaker is also accused of texting a potential business partner in November 2025 about serving as chief co-patron of a bill legalizing recreational marijuana sales.
“Yes, we can make a lot of money but, before we start down that road again; how about we begin with you sending at least a good faith payment of the money you owe me with arrangements for the balance. Then we can talk about future business plans,” Ms. Lucas wrote, according to the filing.
Court documents said that by late January, the business partner had paid Ms. Lucas $100,000 with money provided by the FBI. She allegedly told other officials with a stake in the cannabis market that she and the unindicted co-conspirator were “back in the same tent again.”
FBI agents searched The Cannabis Outlet, The CBD Shoppe and Ms. Lucas’ home district office in May.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, said the timing of the federal action “further erodes the trust the American people deserve to have in the Department of Justice,” given how close it falls to the midterm elections.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended federal authorities’ decision to charge Ms. Lucas by saying the investigation into the lawmaker’s alleged actions had been continuing for years. He noted that Ms. Lucas is not up for reelection this cycle.
“We don’t do political paybacks,” Mr. Blanche said. “This investigation has been going on long before the first assistant U.S. attorney started her job, long before I started my job here, and long before Director Patel became the FBI director. It started long before President Trump was reelected.”
The investigation was opened during President Biden’s administration, a source told The Associated Press in May.
Ms. Lucas first took public office as a Portsmouth City Council member more than four decades ago.
She was elected to the Virginia General Assembly in 1991 and has since risen to national prominence through her combative social media presence, which often mirrors Mr. Trump’s online behavior.
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