“I know nothing” was what Virginia Senate President Pro Tempore Louise Lucas told the Virginian-Pilot over the weekend regarding the raid of her businesses. However, a man facing federal indictment for allegedly collecting $100,000 in COVID relief money fraudulently tells a different story.
Carlton Upton Jr., a man who reportedly has business ties to Lucas, told the press on Friday that he was “just a pawn” in an alleged scheme to apply for and collect money meant to protect Virginians whose employers were closed due to the fears of the Coronavirus.
According to the report by the Virginian-Pilot, Upton Jr. reportedly has connections to VA Freedom Life, a company for which Lucas is listed as owner and CEO. Along with the COVID claim, he allegedly gave false information about his criminal record and business income, according to the federal indictment.
Upton Jr. must be hearing a bus revving its engine—you know, the one he might be getting thrown under. Thus, his willingness to use a more polite version of the “Mayor Marion Barry” defense.” Meanwhile, the only statement Lucas has made attributes the raid to retribution from the Trump administration, for her leadership in the now defunct redistricting.
What is interesting still is the silence from many of Virginia’s leading Democrats. For example, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine rarely miss an opportunity to issue rebukes about the President Trump, yet here we are two weeks later and nothing from either of them.
The day of the raid, Gov. Abigail Spanberger issued this statement: “The Governor is aware of today’s law enforcement operation in Portsmouth. In the absence of additional details, the Governor will not be commenting on a federal investigation at this time.” Really? Is this the same party that was holding “No More Kings” marches because there is a new Air Force One and Trump is building a ballroom at the White House?
Sometimes the silence is deafening.
Not that Lucas would be alone. According to the Department of Justice, as of early this year 3,500 people were charged with COVID relief fraud and over 2,500 were convicted. The Small Business Administration has referred 562,000 other cases of suspected fraudulent loans to the FBI totaling $22 billion. Watchdog groups say that the actual number could be as high as $1 trillion lost due to fraud or misspending.
In other words, make a cookie jar that big, and you can’t be surprised by how many kids will get caught with their hands in it.
Economists point to COVID aid money being the chief driver of why inflation has hit Americans so hard. Each dollar printed and inserted into the economy diluted the value of the ones already out there.
Maybe the governor can make a statement on what that has done to her “affordability agenda.”
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