The indictment alleges bribery schemes involving four local executives

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Indictments released Thursday say Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens used his position to gain support for his full-time job as a developer.

On Thursday, charges were dropped in the federal bribery case against Owens, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks.

The three face multiple felony charges in connection with a case involving soliciting and accepting bribes for their assistance in establishing a convention hotel in downtown Jackson.

According to the indictment, Owens was “ready, willing and disposed to engage in bribery at least as early as October 16, 2023” and bragged that he had enough dirt on all City Council members to approve the votes.

Two confidential human informants posing as FBI agents had been dealing with Owens since at least 2023 and even congratulated the prosecutor on his re-election to a second term.

“During Owens' re-election victory party on November 7, 2023, in response to developers' congratulations, Owens gave an unsolicited response that his position as district attorney was “a part-time job.” The full-time job is evolving… This is the part-time job to get leverage for the full-time job.'”

The day after his re-election, according to documents, Owens, Hinds County businessman Sherik Marve' Smith and an unidentified witness met with the developers, where he and Smith negotiated an upfront payment of $250,000 to help the developers secure support for to receive your project.

Owens received his first payment of $125,000 in December after taking a private jet to Ft. had flown. Lauderdale, where he met with the so-called developers on a yacht.

After taking the money, he allegedly told the developers about the power he wielded in the county.

“I'm trying not to stress this too much, folks, but my ability to prosecute people… there's only one me. So right now every police department comes to us. Everyone needs something. Every file comes to us. Everyone needs something that needs fixing.”

The indictment alleges that in January of this year, Owens informed developers that the city of Jackson would soon be issuing a request for proposals for a downtown development project, and the developers expressed interest in obtaining the project and the City Council's support.

“Owens explained that they needed to avoid paying city council members too much money up front. Specifically, Owens explained, “I don't know if you've ever dealt with addicts, right?” You can give them a little hit, a little hit, or a little sip. But if you give them a case of whiskey and you give them a kilo of Coke and you give them a damn pound of weed. You will die,” the documents say.

Soon after, the meetings with the council members took place. On January 11, the developers met with Owens, Smith and Banks. At this meeting, Banks told Owens that he needed $50,000 to support their project, including $25,000 now and $25,000 later.

Owens then informed the developers of the bank's demand, telling them: “We never give them the asking price. I buy pussy, I buy cars, I buy cows, I buy drugs, whatever. My point is: (banks) need 50, you get 30. He gets installments. This is my game. Some people pay too much and say, “I'm the guy who needs more, and others decide who they pay.” He wants 50? We'll give him 15 this year and next year.'”

The meetings took place at the Downtown Cigar Company, Owens' business, and in his private office, which he called his “war room.”

After this meeting, developers expressed concerns that they did not have enough support for the project. Owens said they already had “leadership” in the form of Lumumba and Banks and the other council members were “pawns.”

He then told the informants that public officials finance their lives through their campaign finances and that the best way to influence them was through campaign contributions. Owens said the money had to come through the state and he had to clean up the money by donating it through a company in Mississippi.

“I don’t give a shit where the money comes from. It may come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don't give a fuck. I am a full prosecutor. Shit, that's shit. As I understand it, my job is to get this deal done with a little bit of paperwork and to do it as effectively as possible,” he said.

In February, the developers gave Owens $60,000 in cash – $25,000 for himself, $25,000 for Banks and $10,000 for Lee. The cash would be held in a secure location at the Hinds County District Attorney's Office until distributed.

Banks was paid $10,000 on February 13, believing it was in exchange for his vote on the developers' project. Banks also accepted the employment of a family member and security from property developers.

Between March and May 2024, the developers spent $1,500 on Banks' protection insurance and $4,800 on the family member's employment.

Lee received $10,000 via wire transfer from Owens on February 15 to pay off her outstanding campaign debts. Owens later texted the developers proof of payment.

The former city councilor needed the money, among other things, because her checks were garnished as part of a court settlement to repay $21,000 in printing costs for her election campaign.

In August, Lee pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $20,000 in bribes and cash. As part of her plea deal, she must pay the amount back.

Owens also offered other advice to developers, including the need to win the mayor's support and said Lumumba could “cause harm” to their project through the RFQ process. Owens also allegedly called city officials about the dates listed in the advertisement.

An RFQ is a request for qualifications. Cities make such requests when they are looking for companies to take on professional projects. Earlier this year, Jackson issued a request for proposals for a convention center hotel. The FBI informants posing as the Facility Solutions Team responded. Owens was included as a partner in their proposal.

The call for proposals was published in January. The original deadline for responding was March 12th. However, this deadline has been extended to April 30 to allow for further submissions.

At a meeting on March 5, Owens reportedly contacted a city employee several times about the decision to reschedule. He also reportedly discussed an upcoming trip Lumumba would take to Florida to meet with developers. Later that day, he texted the developers that he had contacted the mayor and that the mayor was “aware of the developers' desire to postpone the tender submission deadline.”

(READ: Mayor on bribery scandal: “I never conspired with anyone to commit a crime”)

As for the trip to Florida, Owens said it would be a campaign fundraiser, “and that they could either have 'ten people with ten checks' for Lumumba, or Owens could give Lumumba ten checks in an envelope.”

“We used to do it like this: If people wanted to stay under the radar, they would just write a bunch of different checks from different companies,” he said.

On March 10, Owens called the developers to inform them that the mayor agreed to the plan, and on March 19, he opened a checking account in the development company's name to “direct and conceal future bribes.”

On April 2, Lumumba, Owens, Smith and the developers traveled to Florida on a private jet paid for by the FBI on behalf of the developers. After their arrival, the mayor and Owens met with the developers in a private room on a yacht. The meeting was recorded and a transcript of the discussion was included in the indictment.

Owens: “We want to be very careful with money from other states.”

Lumumba: “Yes.”

Owens: “So what this team did was give us, I am, the money and we just filtered it through multiple accounts in a way that we were comfortable with.”

Lumumba: “Yes.”

Owens: “So we wrote five $10,000 checks to make it really easy, and then we'll get through the process and get to our second phase, maybe in Jackson, maybe somewhere else…we'll do something similar.”

Lumumba: “Yes.”

Owens: “…to make sure that you don't have to worry financially about this thing because you are as big a part of this thing as anyone else.”

Then, at the behest of developer one, Lumumba called a city employee and told him to push back the bidding deadline to April 15. Developer 2 later presented the mayor with five checks for $10,000.

Owens later took another $50,000 in cash. That evening, the mayor, Owens, developers and others went to a local club.

On April 5, a check for $9,500 was paid to the mayor's campaign account. On April 8, another check for $5,000 was paid to Lumumba's account. Both checks were cashed.

On May 22, the FBI executed a search warrant at the DA's office. During the search, officers found $20,000 in cash in a book titled “The Constitution of the United States of America.” About $9,000 of it was confirmed to have the same serial numbers as the cash the FBI gave him.

Owens is charged with eight counts, including one count of conspiracy, three counts of federal program bribery, use of intergovernmental facilities to aid racketeering, honest services fraud and making false statements. If convicted, he faces up to 90 years in prison and a $2 million fine.

Lumumba is charged with five counts: conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of intergovernmental facilities to further racketeering, honest services fraud and money laundering. He faces up to 75 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million.

Banks is accused of conspiracy and bribery of federal programs. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please Click here to report it and include the story headline in your email.

Copyright 2024 WLBT. All rights reserved.