Powerful Virginia Democrat Indicted in Alleged ‘Lucas Enterprise’ — Wiretap Quote Raises Eyebrows
Jack
One of the most powerful Democrats in Virginia has just been hit with a sweeping federal indictment.
State Sen. L. Louise Lucas, the 82-year-old president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate and chairwoman of its powerful Finance and Appropriations Committee, was charged Thursday in a case involving alleged marijuana trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, fraud and firearms offenses.
Federal prosecutors say Lucas helped lead the operation.
The indictment names Lucas and six other defendants, including several relatives, in what authorities describe as a criminal marijuana enterprise operating through a close-knit group of family members and associates.
The alleged operation even had a name in the government’s telling: the “Lucas Enterprise.”
The Virginian-Pilot reports that prosecutors charged the group with an alleged 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.
The local report says Lucas allegedly approved and directed activities for the enterprise, arranged for the acquisition and distribution of at least 100 kilograms of marijuana and supervised the laundering of marijuana proceeds.
But the most explosive allegation may be what investigators claim they heard on a wiretap.
Will Chamberlain posted an excerpt identified as paragraph 99 of the indictment. It alleges that during a February 9 phone call about pending recreational-marijuana legislation and the possibility of an associate receiving a license, Lucas said this was their “last chance at generational wealth.”
The next line is the one that will get everyone’s attention.
