Sen. Lucas says she still doesn't know why the feds raided her businesses

NORFOLK, Va. — Nearly two weeks after FBI agents raided the businesses of state Sen. Louise Lucas in Portsmouth, she said she still knows nothing about the raid or what’s being investigated.

On May 6, a bevy of federal agents executed search warrants on the office and businesses of Lucas, including The Cannabis Outlet in Portsmouth. The FBI also raided The CBD Shoppe in Norfolk the same day.

The scope of the investigation or its goal is unclear. It also remains unclear if the two raids are connected.

“I can’t talk about the case in particular, but except that everybody knows about as much as I do,” Lucas said Saturday. “For once, I know nothing.”

Lucas’ comments to The Virginian-Pilot Saturday are among the first public remarks she’s made since the raids.

Lucas was in Norfolk on Saturday for a political and business forum held at the Slover Library. The event featured federal and state legislators and local mayors, along with representatives from Black BRAND, a nonprofit that helps grow and support Black-owned businesses across Hampton Roads.

Lucas has attributed the raid as political retribution from the Trump administration, and reiterated the same on Saturday. She referenced a social media post from a former U.S. attorney as an example to suggest she was targeted. A report from MSNow asserted that former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Lindsey Halligan, was pressuring and pushing Department of Justice officials to bring charges against Lucas in an effort to help Trump in this year’s congressional midterm elections.

Lucas was joined at the event by her daughter, Lisa Lucas-Burke, a former Portsmouth City Council member and vice mayor who also heads Lucas Lodge, where one of the raids occurred. Lucas Lodge provides services for people with developmental disabilities.

Lucas-Burke said operations have continued at Lucas Lodge, but not at Cannabis Outlet next door as all products and all but 10 cents were seized. Lucas-Burke said medical records from Lucas Lodge were also seized, with no word on when or whether those items will be returned.

Lucas-Burke also said she’s heard no additional information about the investigation.

During a break in the program Saturday, Lucas could be heard joking with an attendee that she was using a new phone since the FBI took hers. At least one attendee expressed support for Lucas at the event, encouraging the state senator to keep fighting.

“But I don’t even know what I’m fighting,” Lucas responded.

In a tweet posted Friday, Lucas said some friends started a legal defense fund “to help me stand up for my good name.” The fund, which has been established for just more than a day, has raised more than $6,400 across nearly 60 contributions as of Saturday evening.

Lucas, 82, is a powerful member of the state Senate and chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee who led the charge on Democrats’ redistricting efforts. They sought to redraw the state’s congressional boundaries mid-decade, positioning them to gain four seats. But the state Supreme Court has struck down that plan, and other attempts from Democrats to revive the maps have failed.

“Today, Senator Lucas faces legal challenges while continuing to stand firm in her commitment to public service and democracy. The L. Louise Lucas Legal Defense Fund has been established to help provide the resources necessary to support her legal defense and protect her ability to continue serving the community she has fought for her entire life,” the website for the fund states. “Every donation helps ensure that a lifelong advocate for Virginia’s people can continue her fight for justice, fairness, and representation.”

Lucas said her legal team includes Jeffrey Robinson from Washington, D.C.-based Lewis, Baach, Kaufmann, Middlemiss law firm, as well as Andrew Sacks with Sacks & Sacks PC in Norfolk.

Robinson specializes in areas in which law and litigation intersect with public policy and politics, according to the firm’s website. Robinson served as legal counsel and a media surrogate on behalf of then-Vice President Al Gore during the 2000 vote-count challenge in Florida.

During the raid, Lucas said she saw four people in handcuffs at the business, and said they were store employees and a security guard.

“They had four people who were in handcuffs, and then after they got through, like from 9 in the morning until about 8 at night, my daughter Lisa went back down when they were finishing up. And they told everybody, ‘OK, you’re free to go, you can go back to work now,’” Lucas said.

The owner of the Norfolk CBD store that was raided is Carlton Upton Jr., who was in federal court last week following an indictment on three felony counts of wire fraud in connection with applications in 2020 for pandemic-era federal loans. One of those felony counts is related to a loan he obtained for VA Freedom Life – referenced as Virginia Freedom Life in the indictment. Upton allegedly received more than $100,000 from the loans filed throughout 2020.

Lucas and Upton were previously professionally connected through VA Freedom Life. Lucas said Saturday that Upton was a previous business partner, but that the two severed professional ties in 2022 due to differences in business operation styles.

Lucas said she doesn’t know anything about Upton’s indictment or his loan pursuits in 2020 as they became business partners in 2021 after he approached her following legislation she spearheaded to decriminalize marijuana possession in Virginia. She established the connection because she knew his father, she said.

Lucas championed legislation in 2021 that decriminalized possession of small amounts of cannabis in the state. Retail sales remain illegal, but the General Assembly passed a bill this year that would establish a retail market beginning next year. That legislation is on Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

When VA Freedom Life obtained a Portsmouth certificate of occupancy in 2021, Lucas was the applicant and the company was listed as doing business as The Cannabis Outlet at 1215 High St. Lucas listed herself as the owner and CEO of VA Freedom Life in 2022 and ’23 and reported income from the company, according to financial disclosure forms she’s required to submit as an elected official. She did not list any affiliations in 2020, when federal authorities said the loan to Upton was made.

VA Freedom Life LLC advertises itself as a plant-based wellness brand. State Corporation Commission records show it was formed in 2019 and was doing business as “The Cannabis Outlet” between 2021 and ’23, and registered to Upton. Other SCC filings show it is registered as doing business as The CBD Shoppe.

Lucas received a business clearance and certificate of occupancy to establish The Cannabis Outlet in 2021, according to business records from the city of Portsmouth. She listed VA Freedom Life as doing business as The Cannabis Outlet, and was approved for the retail sales of “CBD oils, tinctures, gummies and slushies.”

CBD is a nonintoxicating compound found in cannabis.

SCC records show The Cannabis Outlet Portsmouth was last registered to Lucas in February 2023 using her Portsmouth office address on County Street.