Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, who leads Mississippi’s largest and capital city, confirmed Wednesday he has been indicted by a federal grand jury in a sweeping corruption probe, Mississippi Today reports. The charges come after undercover FBI agents posing as real estate investors invited the mayor to a fundraiser in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, on April 3, according to public records. They said they wanted to develop property in downtown Jackson and help fund the mayor’s 2025 reelection campaign. “My legal team has informed me that federal prosecutors have, in fact, indicted me on bribery and related charges,” Lumumba said in a video statement shared with reporters on Tuesday. “To be clear, I have never accepted a bribe of any type. As mayor, I have always acted in the best interests of the citizens of Jackson.”
The feds had enlisted the help of an unsuspecting Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens, who dabbles in real estate and business consulting. The agents created a company called Facility Solutions Team and got Owens to deliver campaign contributions to the mayor on their behalf, according to federal charges recently filed against Owens’ cousin and associate. The FBI sting involved a proposed hotel development project in downtown Jackson across from the convention center — a vacant property that has produced a nearly 20-year saga of failed bids and political consternation. In partnership with Owens, the undercover FBI agents created a proposal earlier this year to submit in response to the city’s Statement of Qualifications (SOQ), a document that spells out a city’s needs and solicits interested developers but does not guarantee a contract with the city. For the government to establish a bribe — known as a “quid pro quo” — a public official must agree to take an official act in exchange for the benefit. Lumumba’s official act, according to federal court documents, was directing a city employee to move up a deadline on the SOQ to an earlier date.
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