Democratic mayor and other Mississippi officials accused of bribery

The case has also led to charges against a former city council president and a prosecutor.

After leaving the Jackson federal courthouse, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he would remain in office despite the allegations.

“I am not guilty, so I will not act as a guilty man,” Lumumba said. Currently serving his second term as mayor, he announced in October that he planned to run for another term.

Lumumba’s allegations also involve Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and at least two city council members, former President Aaron Banks and Angelique Lee, who helped developers get approval for a potential hotel project near the city’s convention center. Lee resigned from her city council seat and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit a bribery charge against her in August.

The city has been trying to build the hotel near the site for nearly two decades, securing a multimillion-dollar loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2008 to get the project up and running. The hotel had a completion date of June 2025, according to court documents.

Undercover FBI employees posing as developers from Nashville, Tennesseewere in contact with Mississippi officials who were trying to build the hotel. Based on such information, Owens allegedly directed bribe payments to Lumumba, Banks and Lee.

According to the indictment, Owens, a Democratic prosecutor who owns a cigar bar in Jackson, was approached by one of the “developers” in August 2023 about potential real estate opportunities in the city. Owens told the “developers” that he had “a bag of damning information on all the city council members” that he could use to “get votes approved.”

The charges he faces include one count of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, one count of lying to federal officials, three counts of federal program bribery, and honest services fraud and money laundering.

Lumumba faces five charges, including one count of money laundering and one count of federal program bribery. Banks, a Democrat who represents the city’s 6th Ward, has been charged with one count of federal program bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, and honest services fraud and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that Owens and Lumumba took a private jet to Fort Lauderdale, Floridain April, “paid for (by) the FBI on behalf of the developers.” Smith pleaded guilty in October to a federal bribery charge.

Authorities allege that during the trip, Lumumba “hiddenly” accepted $50,000 as five $10,000 campaign donations while he was on a yacht. Payment from the developers was exchanged along with a request for the city to advance the deadline for submitting proposals for the hotel project. Authorities alleging the deal say they captured the interaction on audio and video. The complaint also includes screenshots of the recording.

Although Banks was not on the trip to Fort Lauderdale, it is still alleged that he requested $50,000 in exchange for his support and received an envelope containing at least $10,000 in cash from Owens.

“Banks and Owens understood that the money was paid in exchange for Banks’ future vote(s) to approve the developer’s proposed development project,” the complaint said.

In one press releaseAccording to the Justice Department, Owens is accused of accepting $115,000 and the “promise of future financial benefits.”

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‘I don’t care where the money comes from. It could come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t care,” Owens said at one point, the complaint alleges. “I’m quite the prosecutor.”

The 2025 mayoral elections will start on January 2, 2025, with a trial scheduled for January 6, 2025, guaranteeing an interesting election season for Lumumba’s re-election campaign.