The charges against Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and council member Aaron B. Banks were brought after two people working for the FBI posed as real estate developers who wanted to build a hotel near the convention center in downtown Jackson and provided payments to officials, including $50,000 for the mayor’s reelection campaign, according to court documents.
Lumumba, Jody Owens and Banks each pleaded not guilty Thursday during an appearance before a magistrate judge, with supporters of the mayor filling the small courtroom. The three men will remain free while awaiting trial.
Jackson City Council member Angelique Lee, also a Democrat, resigned in August and pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges as the result of the same FBI investigation. Her sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 13.
In May, FBI agents raided Owens' office and a cigar bar he owns in downtown Jackson. Among the items found in the district attorney's office was a lockbox made to look like a book labeled as the U.S. Constitution, containing about $20,000 in cash, with about $9,900 showing serial numbers confirming it was paid by the purported developers to Owens, according to the newly unsealed indictment.
Owens boasted to the purported developers about having influence over Jackson officials and “facilitated over $80,000 in bribe payments” to Lumumba, Banks and Lee in exchange for their agreement to ensure approval of the multimillion-dollar downtown development, according to the indictment.
The document also says Owens “solicited and accepted at least $115,000 in cash and promises of future financial benefits” from the purported developers to use his relationships with Lumumba, Banks and Lee and act as an intermediary for the payments to them.
Lumumba directed a city employee to move a deadline to favor the purported developers’ project, and Banks and Lee agreed to vote in favor of it, according to the indictments unsealed Thursday.
Sherik Marve Smith — who is an insurance broker and a relative of Owens, according to court documents — waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in the case on Oct. 17. He agreed to forfeit $20,000, and his sentencing is set for Feb. 19.
Smith conspired to give cash payments and campaign contributions to two Jackson elected officials, and the money came from the purported developers who were working for the FBI, according to court documents.
Owens, Lumumba, Smith and the purported developers traveled in April on a private jet paid by the FBI to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to the newly unsealed indictment.
During a meeting on a yacht that was recorded on audio and video, Lumumba received five campaign checks for $10,000 each, and he called a Jackson city employee and instructed that person to move a deadline for submission of proposals to develop the property near the convention center, the indictment says.
The deadline was moved in a way to benefit the purported developers who were working for the FBI by likely eliminating any of their competition, the indictment says.
