'Too old to not be greedy': Inside the bribery count against Virginia's most powerful senator

Sen. Louise Lucas was a sponsor of the 2021 bill that set Virginia on the road to legal marijuana. She chairs the committee that writes the state budget, and she presides over the Senate when the lieutenant governor is absent. According to a federal grand jury, she also tried to turn the coming recreational market into a private payday for her family.

Count 4 of the indictment unsealed Oct. 22 charges Lucas, her daughter Lisa Lucas-Burke, and her former business partner Carlton Upton Jr. with conspiracy to commit honest services fraud through bribery. Prosecutors allege a scheme running from 2022 into 2026 to deprive Virginians "of their intangible right to the honest services of LOUISE LUCAS."

These are allegations. Lucas, Lucas-Burke and Upton are presumed innocent. Lucas says the case is an attempt to silence a Trump critic.

The charge in prosecutors' words

The indictment says the scheme had two purposes. One was for Lucas "to use her official position as a state senator ... to enrich herself by soliciting and/or accepting payments, gifts, and other things of value." The other was to "perform official actions ... on an as-needed basis to benefit UCC #2, UPTON and others."

UCC #2 is an unnamed, unindicted co-conspirator.

Prosecutors allege Lucas bought into a company UCC #2 created "in exchange for using her political influence to take official actions to steer a marijuana license" his way. They say she did not report the stake on her required Statement of Economic Interests forms. And they allege she "demanded and accepted" $100,000 "in exchange for continuing to work to direct a license" to him.

$750,000 into a chicken company

The company was Mama's Chicken LLC, organized in Delaware on Aug. 17, 2022. Within days, the indictment says, Lucas contracted to buy it for $1,050,000 and paid $750,000 for full ownership of what prosecutors call a "shell holding company" for an expected recreational marijuana license. If no license came by Dec. 31, 2025, UCC #2 owed her a $525,000 refund.

By October 2022, Lucas was allegedly pressing for her money back. On Nov. 15, 2025, she allegedly texted him:

"you know I will be carrying the legislation as the Chief Co-patron. 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."

Cash at the Capitol

On Jan. 30, 2026, in the middle of the legislative session, Lucas met UCC #2 "per her request, at her legislative office at the Capitol complex in Richmond," the indictment says. He handed her a "partial repayment." The government's own words follow: "The $100,000 was provided to UCC #2 by the FBI."

While he was there, Lucas allegedly called the president of the Virginia Cannabis Association to report that she and UCC #2 were "back in the same tent again." The next day, at her Portsmouth office, she allegedly called licensing her way to "get generational wealth and this is my last chance."

On Feb. 9, prosecutors say, she discussed the pending bill's language with UCC #2, along with a license whose proceeds they would share: "this is our last chance at generational wealth . . .. I've got too old to not be greedy."

Working the phones with lawmakers

The most politically charged passages describe Lucas talking with fellow legislators. The indictment does not name them, and none is charged.

• March 9: Lucas allegedly told "another Virginia legislator," with whom she had discussed Upton and the license before: "I got to get the license and I got to get the money rolling in because I want -- I want to make generation, create some generational wealth. . . . I need to be covered under his (UPTON's) um, hemp license."
• March 11: On a call with a legislator and Lucas-Burke about the 420ish Unity Festival, which she partly organized, Lucas allegedly said: "The whole police department protected us." Told that cannabis legislation would put "everything ... on the up and up," she allegedly answered: "[a]nd make it legal because I did, when I did it, it was obviously illegal."
• March 11: On a call with two legislators and Lucas-Burke about recreational licenses: "we trying to disqualify somebody [UCC #2] until he pays me back my money."

DOJ summarized this as Lucas discussing a co-conspirator's "qualification for a recreational marijuana license depending on her receipt of a bribery payment."

Then, on April 23, a member of the Cannabis Control Authority board asked whether there was anything they could do for her, according to the indictment. Lucas allegedly said she needed "to invest in something that -- that can help me generate some uh, generational wealth for my family." She also allegedly said she "got a couple of bad apples who are going to be applying for a license who do not get them." The governor appoints CCA board members, and the General Assembly confirms them.

Upton, meanwhile, allegedly told her before a March 31 meeting: "I only got five licenses, but you know what I mean, you first." The indictment does not say what the "five licenses" were.

The indictment does not say which "police department" Lucas meant.

Separate background: In 2020, then-Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene charged Lucas with two felonies after a Confederate monument protest. Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Morales' office moved to dismiss the case, and the charges were dropped Nov. 16, 2020, according to AP and WAVY. Greene was fired the same day. The indictment recounts that episode as background (¶E). It does not tie it to the 2026 remark, and RVN is not drawing that link.

The prize: July 1, 2027

The indictment recounts that Youngkin vetoed retail bills in 2024 and 2025. In 2026, Spanberger sought amendments that would have delayed sales from January to July 2027, then vetoed the bill in May. A June budget deal set sales to begin July 1, 2027, for CCA-licensed businesses. The licenses were "anticipated to be very valuable," prosecutors note. That is the market prosecutors say Lucas positioned herself to profit from.

The congressman and the wiretap

This is a separate story. The indictment does not identify U.S. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam as one of the unnamed legislators, and he is not accused of any wrongdoing.

Seven weeks before the charges were announced, Subramanyam, a Northern Virginia Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, disclosed that federal agents had intercepted his calls with Lucas. Axios reported Sept. 3 that he released what he said was a DOJ/FBI notice. According to that notice, a court-authorized wiretap captured some of his calls between March 6 and April 5.

Subramanyam cast the surveillance as political. "Trump's DOJ has become his own personal law firm," his statement said, according to WUSA9. He called the timing "extremely suspicious" because it came at "the peak of campaigning for the redistricting referendum," the Democratic-led effort Lucas helped lead. On CNN on Sept. 8, he asked, "what else do they have on me?" Anchor John Berman pointed out that the probe reportedly began under President Biden. "That's right," Subramanyam said, "but then why are they listening in on my conversations with her?"

In his WUSA9 interview, posted on YouTube, he said: "I have nothing to hide, but I, I like my privacy," and "I just so happened to call her."

What remains unanswered is what was said on those calls. The recordings are sealed, according to WUSA9.

Follow the money

The Virginia Public Access Project's records, captured Oct. 22 and due for a live recheck, show Lucas' political operation doubling as a family pipeline. Lucas for Senate is the top donor to her daughter and co-defendant Lisa Lucas-Burke, at $351,803. Lucas' family businesses, Lucas Lodge LLC ($19,838) and Lucas Hospitality ($5,000), also gave to Lucas-Burke.

Lucas' own war chest leans on Dominion Energy ($1,264,678) and gaming interests. VPAP shows no clearly identified cannabis retailer among her top donors. In the cycle VPAP displayed, her committee gave $5,000 to Spanberger's 2026 inaugural committee. Speaker Don Scott's delegate committee gave Lucas-Burke $8,500. Neither Spanberger nor Scott is accused of anything.

Her response

"I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down," Lucas wrote on X, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Source note: Quotes and acts attributed to Lucas, Upton and others are as alleged in U.S. v. Lucas et al., No. 4:26-cr-00075 (E.D. Va.), Doc. 3 (Count 4; ¶¶14–17, 77, 90–94, 99, 102–104, 108–109; General Allegations ¶E). Other sources are the DOJ press release (Oct. 22, 2026) and the Virginia Mercury (Oct. 22, 2026). Subramanyam material comes from Axios (Sept. 3), WUSA9 (Sept. 3; YouTube IhO-vNEuBVM) and the CNN rush transcript (Sept. 8). The 2020 history is from AP and WAVY via our research brief. VPAP figures were captured Oct. 22 and must be rechecked live; some pages returned 403 errors. Fact gaps: The legislators, the association president, the CCA board member and UCC #2 are not named. The police department is unidentified. The "five licenses" are unexplained. Subramanyam said "March and May," while the notice reportedly says March 6–April 5.

Portsmouth is an independent city in Hampton Roads.