Former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is set to plead guilty Monday to federal charges in a public corruption case, according to a court document. This comes a week after Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the same case that shook Mississippi’s capital city.
A federal grand jury indicted Lumumba, Owens and former Jackson City Council Member Aaron Banks in 2024. Their trial was set to begin July 13.
Lumumba, a Democrat, was mayor from 2017 until mid-2025, when he lost his bid for reelection. Upon election, Lumumba had vowed to transform Jackson into “the most radical city on the planet.”
Owens, a Democrat, was first elected in 2019 as the top prosecutor in Mississippi’s largest county. He resigned when he pleaded guilty last week.
READ MORE: Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens pleads guilty to conspiracy
Beginning as early as 2023, two undercover FBI agents posed as real estate developers. They sought to build a convention center hotel in downtown Jackson on a plot of land the city had previously obtained a federal loan to develop.
The undercover operation mimicked stings that federal authorities have brought in other cities.
In Jackson, prosecutors allege the scheme worked like this: The agents, purporting to represent a company called Facility Solutions Team, funneled money through an unsuspecting Owens to Lumumba and Banks, who were then supposed to help the developers secure the city’s approval to use federal funds to build a downtown convention center hotel.
In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Lumumba accepted $50,000 in campaign donations in exchange for assisting the developers in obtaining the city’s blessing.
The indictment alleges that while Lumumba was on a yacht off the coast of Florida, he discussed the payment Owens was going to give him on behalf of the developers. Then he placed a call asking a city employee to shorten the bid window for the hotel development.
Lumumba described this action as “ministerial at best,” according to court documents, thus not in line with how federal law and the courts have defined an official action a public official must take as part of a quid pro quo.
Two people have already pleaded guilty in the scheme: Another former City Council member, Angelique Lee, and Owens’ cousin and associate, Sherik “Marve” Smith, who pleaded to acting as a go-between for the district attorney with both Lumumba and Banks.
Federal investigators were drawn to Jackson as early as 2022 after years of public accusations of corruption among its leaders. In just one instance, a city councilmember wrote the U.S. Attorney’s Office asking them to investigate Lumumba while he was mayor.
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