City Council member Virgi Lindsay and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens agreed to meet with two men claiming to be out-of-state developers, but they quickly learned the men had “no vision,” and were short on details. The two men ended up being FBI agents that now accuse Owens, in a federal indictment filed in the Southern District of Mississippi, of participating in and facilitating a bribery scheme that ensnared the mayor and members of the City Council, NBC reports. As part of a sting operation, the agents sought support from officials in Jackson, the state’s largest city, for a phony hotel deal in exchange for cash and perks like shopping sprees and personal security details. Owens, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and City Council member Aaron Banks were indicted last month on conspiracy and bribery charges. All have pleaded not guilty. A trial is set for early January.
A City Council member, Angelique Lee, resigned in August and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. Sherik Marve Smith — a relative of Owens who court records say conspired to give “things of value,” including cash payments and campaign donations, to elected officials in exchange for their support for the real estate project — also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. No other City Council members have been charged. The allegations in the federal indictment paint a picture of people entrusted to public office in a city where roughly 26% of residents live in poverty being accused of receiving more than $100,000 in “bribe payments” while being whisked away to hobnob on private jets and yachts. The bribery scandal is the latest in a series of challenges Jackson has faced in recent years. Last year residents went without garbage pickup for roughly two weeks amid a contract dispute. That breakdown came on the heels of a water system crisis that left much of the city without access to running water for days in 2022.
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