Federal prosecutors are seeking a wide range of documents related to former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and the marijuana moonlighting that cost Fagan his political career.
The state Department of Justice released copies of subpoenas issued late last month to five state agencies by Ethan Knight, a Portland-based assistant U.S. attorney who was the lead prosecutor in the lawsuit. of 2017 on the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by a group of far-right extremists. The Oregonian/OregonLive first reported subpoenas.
The subpoenas were addressed to the Office of the Secretary of State, the Department of Administrative Services, the Oregon Alcohol and Cannabis Commission, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, and the Department of income. Knight and FBI Special Agent John Mandrafina are looking for a wide range of documents, all related to cannabis retailer owners Fagan and La Mota, Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares.
Mitchell contributed $45,000 to Fagan’s political campaign, and he and Cazares were major donors to other Democratic politicians and causes.
In February, Fagan took a $10,000-a-month consulting position with Veriede Holding LLC, owned by Mitchell and Cazares, to help the cannabis company expand outside of Oregon. His office was auditing the Oregon Alcohol and Cannabis Commission at the time, which regulates the marijuana industry.
She ended the consultancy position on May 1 and resigned as secretary of state a few days later.
The state Department of Justice is investigating the audit and the state Ethics Commission is investigating Fagan. Justice Department spokesman Roy Kaufmann declined to comment on how and if the existence of a federal investigation would affect state investigations.
The subpoenas require departments to send case files by June 21 to a grand jury coordinator at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Portland.
At the Secretary of State’s office, Knight requested Fagan’s employment and personnel records, documents related to her work as a consultant, and travel records from January 1, 2020. He also requested all related documents to the agency’s audit of the Oregon Alcohol and Cannabis Commission and the logs of all of Fagan’s calls and text messages from work phones.
He further instructed the office to turn over records associated with contributions Fagan received from Mitchell, Cazares and one of their companies.
The Department of Administrative Services received a similar subpoena requesting Fagan’s travel records, payroll records and phone logs dating back to January 1, 2018, when Fagan was still a state senator. That subpoena further requested records of communications between Fagan and Connecticut Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz, whom Fagan admitted to calling as part of her consultation for La Mota to ask who she could contact about the incident. cannabis industry in this state.
A subpoena to the Oregon Alcohol and Cannabis Commission seeks any complaints regarding Fagan, Mitchell, or Cazares and any of their businesses, as well as documents related to any investigation of the three. This subpoena also requests all records, including emails, text messages, Microsoft Teams chat logs, and meeting notes, related to the recent commission audit, communications with or about Mitchell and Cazares, and communications to or from Fagan related to the marijuana industry.
Knight asked the Oregon Government Ethics Commission to turn over all complaints received about Fagan and documents related to those complaints, as well as any internal or external communications regarding the campaigns of Mitchell, Cazares, Fagan and Fagan.
He asked the state Department of Revenue to turn over Mitchell and Cazares’ tax returns dated January 1, 2018, along with records of corporate taxes paid by companies they own.
