It’s a boutique car lot tucked off Jefferson Avenue in Newport News, Virginia. Lux Auto Sales & Rental sold used luxury cars out of a modest building with a handful of gleaming vehicles parked out front. But federal prosecutors say the small lot was actually the East Coast base of a sprawling marijuana trafficking operation that stretched coast to coast.

Between 2017 and 2023, the group behind Lux Auto ran a scheme that used commercial flights to shuttle millions in drug money to California and bring back hundreds of pounds of cannabis to Virginia in return.

The playbook was simple but bold

Couriers carried suitcases stuffed with cash westbound. They returned the next day with up to 80 pounds of weed packed into the same bags. They were paid $1,500 per trip.

FBI surveillance and intercepted calls revealed the operation was moving about 1,000 pounds of marijuana every week, spending over half a million dollars on airfare alone.

Agents began investigating the dealership in 2021 after a tip about large-scale trafficking

That tip eventually linked the dealership to a gunfire incident involving a Hampton police officer. 

What followed was a wide-reaching federal investigation: wiretaps, controlled drug buys, and a financial sweep of more than 400 bank accounts. They uncovered over $22 million in financial transactions tied to the conspiracy.

Authorities also seized roughly $400,000 in cash, nearly half a (literal) ton of marijuana, and other contraband, the Virginian-Pilot shared.

The cannabis was frequently stored in vehicles right on the lot

Armed conspirators guarded the product while blending into the dealership’s everyday operations.

In total, 37 people were charged. Thirty-one pleaded guilty, with 17 already sentenced to terms ranging from probation to 15 years in prison. Four more men took their case to trial in Norfolk’s U.S. District Court, and were all convicted. One more trial is pending, and another suspect remains at large.

Among those convicted was Cortez Dayshawn Bumphus, who had previously faced two separate murder charges. He and the other three men will be sentenced later this year.

Though Virginia allows personal marijuana use in small amounts, selling or trafficking the drug remains illegal under both state and federal law. This dealership operation shattered both.