Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has been indicted as part of a federal corruption investigation

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who leads Mississippi's largest city and capital, confirmed Wednesday that he has been indicted by a federal grand jury in a sweeping corruption investigation.

The charges were filed after undercover FBI agents posing as real estate investors summoned the mayor to a fundraiser in Ft. had invited. April 3 in Lauderdale, Florida, according to public records. They said they want to develop real estate in downtown Jackson and help fund the mayor's 2025 re-election campaign.

“My legal team has informed me that federal prosecutors have indeed charged me with bribery and related charges,” Lumumba said in a video statement shared with reporters on Tuesday. “To be clear: I have never accepted bribes of any kind. As mayor, I have always acted in the best interests of the citizens of Jackson.”

The feds had enlisted the help of clueless Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, who is involved in real estate and business consulting. The agents formed a company called Facility Solutions Team and had Owens deliver campaign contributions to the mayor on their behalf, according to federal charges recently filed against Owens' cousin and associates.

The FBI operation involved a proposed hotel development project in downtown Jackson across from the convention center – a vacant property that has sparked a nearly 20-year history of failed bids and political consternation. Working with Owens, the undercover FBI agents prepared a proposal earlier this year to submit in response to the city's Statement of Qualifications (SOQ). This is a document that outlines a city's needs and recruits interested developers, but does not guarantee a contract with the city.

For the government to constitute a bribe – a so-called “quid pro quo” – an official must agree to an official act in exchange for the benefit. According to federal court documents, Lumumba's official action was to instruct a city employee to postpone a SOQ deadline to an earlier date.

Keeton said Lumumba has already spoken with the city's planning and development director, Jhai Keeton, about when to end the offer, as it was originally decided to extend it for about a month and a half at the end of February. Originally, FST was the only developer to express interest in the project, Keeton said, and he wanted to give the developers more time to respond.

While Lumumba was meeting with the undercover agents in South Florida, he called Keeton and told him to push the deadline back two weeks to April 16. Keeton didn't think too much of it, he said, because the mayor had already stated that “We don't want to lose anyone we have in the hopes of getting new people.”

“There were still two weeks left to create more competition,” Keeton said.

Two other companies submitted their responses on the day of the deadline. The planning department did not select a winner.

The undercover sting operation has already led to federal charges against another local elected official. Former Jackson City Councilwoman Angelique Lee pleaded guilty in August to bribery charges related to the crime and immediately resigned from the city council.

Federal authorities also conducted raids on Owens' stores in May. Owens' cousin, Sherik “Marve” Smith, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in October, admitting that he acted as a middleman between an unindicted co-conspirator and two officers – also unindicted co-conspirators.

Lumumba, who has denied public corruption allegations for years and has already announced his re-election in 2025, preempted the official announcement of the federal indictment with his own statement to reporters Tuesday afternoon.

“We believe this is a political accusation against me, primarily aimed at destroying my credibility and reputation within the community,” Lumumba said in the video statement on Tuesday. “It is no coincidence that the timing is shortly before the upcoming mayoral election campaign. My legal team will vigorously defend me against these allegations. Although I am disappointed, I will not be deterred, so I ask for your patience and prayers during this process.”

Lumumba is expected to be arraigned in federal court on Thursday. A spokesman for the mayor said he had no plans to resign. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Mississippi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FBI has been poking around Jackson City Hall for years.

Former Councilman D'Keither Stamps said federal agents interviewed him in 2014, not long after he took office, to obtain information about a 2012 water billing and meter installation contract the city entered into with German-based engineering firm Siemens. The botched contract contributed to the city losing millions of dollars in water revenue. In 2021 and 2022, residents were without water for days and weeks due to infrastructure failures.

A former city employee said the FBI questioned her in 2015 about alleged bid control in the Public Works Department under the city's previous administration.

Sources close to a federal investigation say the FBI is investigating a long-running dispute between the mayor and the City Council over the city's selection of a trash collection provider that led to a 17-day trash pileup in the spring of 2023.

In December 2023, Keyshia Sanders, a former Lumumba administration appointee, was convicted after pleading guilty in connection with her work as a district dispatcher for the city of Jackson.

“The city is designed for corruption. “The system is designed to be rigged,” said Stamps, who left the City Council in 2021 and now serves as public service commissioner for the Central District of Mississippi.