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Wide-ranging federal subpoenas issued May 24 and obtained by WW show U.S. Department of Justice investigators are seeking extensive information about former Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and Rosa Cazares and Aaron Mitchell—the co-founders of the La Mota cannabis chain. Fagan began moonlighting for a La Mota affiliate in February as a private consultant.
The subpoenas request that five state agencies—the Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, the Departments of Administrative Services and Revenue, the Secretary of State’s Office, and the Oregon Government Ethics Commission—provide “all information, records, and documents…relating to the individuals and entities listed below” ahead of a grand jury proceeding June 21 at the United States Courthouse in Portland.
Three names are listed: Fagan, Cazares and Mitchell.
The first subpoena WW obtained earlier on June 7 went to the OLCC.
Eighty-three La Mota-related business entities registered with the state are listed on the subpoena, including LLCs associated with the many properties Mitchell and Cazares own.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, the Oregon Department of Justice released copies of additional federal subpoenas in response to a public records request.
The subpoenas ask each agency for broadly similar documents, including texts, emails, meeting notes and investigative materials that involve Fagan, Mitchell and Cazares. (Fagan resigned from office May 2, less than a week after WW reported on her contract with the La Mota affiliate.)
But there are some differences in the requests of the various agencies. The subpoena issued to the Oregon Department of Revenue, for example, asks for the state income tax returns of Cazares and Mitchell, communications between the agency and Mitchell and Cazares, and any communications between the agency and Fagan regarding the couple. (The couple and the companies they control have repeatedly failed to pay taxes owed to the DOR, resulting in numerous state tax liens.)
The subpoena issued to the Secretary of State’s Office demands records related to Fagan’s campaign transactions and travel expenditures and her use of state credit cards. It also requests all documentation of Fagan’s communications with Connecticut Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, whom Fagan says she called while working as a consultant to the La Mota affiliate. The subpoena also seeks details of Fagan’s communications with several other listed phone numbers.
The various subpoenas also ask for records related to the audit of the OLCC, which regulates La Mota. Cazares urged Fagan, who oversaw state audits, to scrutinize the agency’s regulatory practices, which she thought were heavy-handed. The feds also want the Ethics Commission’s records related to its preliminary investigation into Fagan’s consulting contract.
The subpoena to the OLCC, issued by assistant U.S. attorney Ethan D. Knight, requests all texts, draft documents, emails, meeting notes, and criminal and civil investigative files that relate to Fagan, Cazares, Mitchell and the entities they control.
The feds are requesting all responsive records from as far back as 2018, two years before Fagan says she first met Cazares and Mitchell while campaigning in the fall of 2020. The couple went on to host fundraising parties for Fagan at a home they were renting in the West Hills.
An attorney for Fagan declined to comment on the subpoenas. Mitchell and Cazares did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It appears, according to the subpoena, that the couple is currently living in separate apartments.
You can see a copy of the OLCC subpoena here.
Update, 5:20 pm: This story has been updated with details from all five subpoenas provided in response to a records request.