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An FBI investigation into the dealings of former Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan has ended. No criminal charges were filed.
The feds opened an investigation into Fagan after WW revealed in the spring of 2023 that she had signed a $10,000-a-month consulting contract with Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares, cannabis industry moguls who were prominent donors to Fagan’s election campaign.
The couple, co-founders of the cannabis chain La Mota, had been issued millions of dollars’ worth of federal and state tax liens, and had been sued dozens of times in recent years by business partners, employees and landlords. Meanwhile, they’d become prominent campaign donors to Oregon’s top Democrats, including now-Gov. Tina Kotek, Fagan, former Oregon Labor Commissioner Val Hoyle, and a slew of legislators.
Days after WW reported on the details of Fagan’s contract, and facing pressure from top Democrats, including Kotek, Fagan resigned, ending her rapid ascent in Oregon politics. Soon after, the feds launched a criminal investigation into Fagan’s conduct.
Late last year, though, the feds quietly closed their investigation and filed no criminal charges. The closure of the investigation was first reported this morning by The Oregonian.
That means state investigations into ethical violations by Fagan may resume.
Susan Myers, executive director of the Oregon Government Ethics Commission, says her agency reopened its three investigations into Fagan’s conduct in December. (To one of the three complainants, Myers wrote in a March 10 email that “we were informed [in late December] that the FBI investigation as to Ms. Fagan had been completed.”)
“OGEC reactivated its investigation of the three Fagan cases in late December,” Myers said in an email Monday. “Those cases will likely be brought to the commission, either as investigative reports or as stipulated final order(s), at an upcoming meeting.”
Myers’s agency received three complaints in short order following reporting on Fagan’s contract and relationship with the cannabis couple. The agency paused the three investigations pending conclusion of the feds’ investigation, as is typical.
Just last month, Secretary of State Tobias Read, Fagan’s first elected successor, announced he’d decided to take down an audit of the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission that was conducted under Fagan’s watch. Records obtained by WW in the spring of 2023 showed Cazares had been interviewed for the audit and had even suggested language to Fagan that would shape the scope of the audit. The OLCC is the agency that regulated the couple’s dozens of cannabis-related business ventures and LLCs.
While an outside firm hired by the state at the time recommended that the Secretary of State’s Office take down the audit because of doubts about its independence, Fagan’s appointed replacement, LaVonne Griffin-Valade, declined to take it down.