Louisiana’s largest tech project just got a political twist. Senator John “Jay” Morris helped push Meta’s massive Hyperion data center through state hurdles. At the same time, he quietly bought and sold land next to the site.

Hyperion is no ordinary data center. It sprawls over 3,650 acres, consuming more power daily than New Orleans. To feed that appetite, Entergy is building a methane-burning power plant nearby. Morris and his business partners sold hundreds of acres to Entergy for this plant as recently as February.

Morris co-sponsored bills that enabled the land sale to Meta and backed tax breaks worth an estimated $3.3 billion for data centers. He lobbied regulators and voted on legislation directly tied to the project. Meanwhile, he avoided disclosing these land deals publicly. Louisiana law doesn’t require sale prices to be disclosed, so the profits remain unknown.

Ethics experts call this a red flag. State rules forbid officials from voting on matters that could enrich them. Morris’s pattern of involvement—legislating, lobbying, and trading land around Hyperion—fits that mold. Critics say he should have recused himself from votes related to the project.

Morris denies wrongdoing. He insists the tax breaks apply to all data centers, not just Meta’s. He claims his land holdings are public and sees no conflict under state laws. Yet, some ethics board members find his actions “problematic,” citing his failure to disclose potential conflicts to legislative committees.

The stakes run higher than ethics. Hyperion’s power demand strains local grids and water supplies. Residents complain about dust and heavy truck traffic. The project promises jobs and tax revenue, but also risks rising utility bills and environmental stress.

Meta promises investment in schools and nonprofits, and state officials defend the project as an economic win. Still, public scrutiny is mounting. Louisiana’s Board of Ethics can investigate, but for now, the saga exposes how tightly business, politics, and big tech deals intertwine.

In this case, a senator’s personal real estate moves mirror his political moves. That overlap isn’t just inconvenient—it may breach the ethics laws designed to stop exactly this kind of private gain from public office.