Chokwe Antar Lumumba is seeking to dismiss federal bribery charges against him, but Jacksonians can’t read the former mayor’s arguments because of a blanket restriction on public access to filings in the case.
Lumumba’s motion to dismiss comes weeks after a co-defendant in Jackson’s bribery scandal, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, filed his own motion to dismiss the case. That filing was replete with hundreds of pages of sensitive material, including grand jury testimony, photographs of undercover FBI agents and investigative documents containing allegations of local government corruption.
The disclosures prompted the U.S. Attorney’s Office to ask the federal judge overseeing the case, Daniel Jordan, to restrict most filings in the case until all parties involved could review and propose redactions.
The case is slated for trial in July, and Lumumba’s motion was part of a raft of restricted documents that point to some of the strategies both sides are likely to use.
Lumumba and a third co-defendant, former Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks, are seeking to sever the case, meaning they want separate trials from Owens, who is arguing that FBI agents “entrapped” him, such as by giving him alcohol knowing he is a diagnosed alcoholic.
Meanwhile, the federal government has filed its own motions to “preclude certain defenses” and “exclude evidence of merits of official acts.” The latter filing is designed to prevent the counsel for Lumumba, Owens and Banks from winning the case via jury nullification – when jurors refuse to convict despite believing laws were broken – by showering jurors with information about the defendants’ various good deeds, said Matt Steffey, a Mississippi College School of Law professor.
“The public official’s whole career isn’t on trial, just the corrupt acts,” he said of the government’s argument.
A local attorney for Lumumba, Thomas Bellinder, did not respond to calls or emails requesting comment. When the indictment against Lumumba became public in 2024, the then-mayor vowed to defend his innocence, calling the charges a “political prosecution,” but has since repeatedly stated he will not comment on the case.
The federal government has accused Lumumba of violating a federal statute that prohibits officials from accepting bribes in exchange for an official act — the classic definition of a “quid pro quo,” Steffey said.
Lumumba’s “official action,” the federal government alleged in its indictment, was a phone call he placed during what he thought was a campaign fundraiser on a yacht off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. While cruising the Atlantic in the spring of 2024, Lumumba accepted $50,000 in checks to his reelection campaign from Owens and FBI agents posing as developers.
In the months leading up to the trip, the city had been seeking bids from prospective developers to build a hotel across from downtown Jackson’s convention center.
Dissatisfied by the number of respondents, Lumumba had directed the city’s planning and development department to extend the deadline.
But the FBI agents, purporting to represent a company called Facility Solutions Team, which had submitted a bid, wanted the deadline moved back to eliminate any more competition, according to the indictment.
Lumumba made the call, prosecutors alleged, but not until after he discussed with Owens the payment he would receive.
Two other companies also submitted bids, but the city did not award a contract.
Steffey said the former mayor’s argument may hinge on whether this phone call actually demonstrated Lumumba wielding government influence, especially if the call did not result in the awarding of a bid.
Even if the jury finds that it was an official act, Steffey said they may decide it was not a crime that warrants time in federal prison.
“Is it appropriate to put the elected mayor of Jackson in prison for shortening the bid window on a project where there still had to be consideration of multiple bids?” Steffey said. “If President Trump (was charged for that), it would be called weaponizing the criminal justice system.”
One reason Lumumba’s filing was restricted is likely because his attorney attached grand jury testimony from an FBI agent named Lawrence Correll assigned to investigate corruption in Jackson. This document was also attached to Owens’ motion to dismiss.
Mississippi Today obtained the testimony from the Owens filing in January before the documents were restricted. It shows Correll testified during a grand jury proceeding in the fall of 2024 that shortly after Lumumba returned from the Fort Lauderdale trip, he deposited the $50,000 worth of checks into a campaign account.
Days later, Lumumba wrote himself a $9,500 check for “canvassing, signs, campaign car” that was later cashed, Correll said. Another $5,000 was taken out of the account – Correll did not say by whom – via a check for an “Atlanta Film Crew.”
But Correll testified the FBI had not figured out where the money “ultimately” ended up.
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