The case also led to the indictment of a former city council president and a district attorney.

After leaving Jackson’s federal court, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he would remain in office despite the charges.

“I am not guilty and so I will not act like a guilty man,” Lumumba said. Currently in his second term as mayor, he announced in October that he plans to run for another term.

Lumumba’s charges also implicate Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and at least two city council members, former President Aaron Banks and Angelique Lee, in helping developers secure approval for a possible hotel project near the city’s convention center. Lee resigned as a city councilor and pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to commit bribery charge against her in August.

The city has been trying to build the hotel near the site for nearly two decades, with a million-dollar loan from the Department of Housing and Urban Development taken out in 2008 to get the project off the ground. The hotel had a completion date of June 2025, according to court documents.

Under cover FBI employees posing as Nashville developers, Tennesseethey were in contact with officials in Mississippi who were trying to build the hotel. From such information, it is alleged that Owens initiated bribe payments with Lumumba, Banks and Lee.

According to the indictment, Owens, a Democratic prosecutor who owns a cigar bar in Jackson, was approached by one of the “developers” in August 2023 about possible real estate opportunities in the city. Owens told the “developers” that he had “a bag of damn information on all the city councilors” that allowed him to “get approval votes.”

The charges he faces include one count of conspiracy to commit federal program bribery, one count of lying to federal officers, three counts of federal program bribery and honest services fraud and money laundering.

Lumumba faces five charges, including one count of money laundering and one count of bribery in the federal scheme. Banks, a Democrat who represents the city’s 6th District, was indicted on one count of federal program bribery, conspiracy to commit federal program bribery and honest services fraud and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday.

The indictment alleges that Owens and Lumumba took a private jet to Fort Lauderdale, Floridain April, “paid for (by) the FBI on behalf of the developers.” Smith pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge in October.

Authorities allege that during the trip, Lumumba accepted $50,000 “hidden” as five $10,000 campaign donations while on a yacht. The payment from the developers was exchanged with a request that the city extend the proposal deadline for the hotel project. Authorities supporting the settlement say the interaction is being recorded on audio and video. The indictment also has screenshots from the recording.

Although Banks was not on the Fort Lauderdale trip, he is alleged to have demanded $50,000 in exchange for his support and received an envelope of at least $10,000 in cash from Owens.

“Banks and Owens understood that the money was being paid in exchange for Banks’ future votes to approve the development proposed by the Developer,” the indictment states.

One press releaseThe Justice Department said Owens is accused of accepting $115,000 and “the promise of future financial benefits.”

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“I don’t give a f*** where the money comes from. It can come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t give a shit,” Owens said at one point, the indictment alleges. “I’m a whole prosecutor.”

The city’s 2025 mayoral election opens on January 2, 2025, and a trial has been set for January 6, 2025, ensuring an interesting election season for Lumumba’s re-election campaign.