Ex-Jackson mayor pleads guilty in bribery scandal
The ex-mayor of Mississippi’s largest city pleaded guilty on Monday in connection with a bribery scandal involving a proposed downtown convention center project that also resulted in criminal charges against multiple city leaders in the Hospitality State.
Former Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy in federal court during an afternoon hearing in the more than 20-month-long corruption case.
The city is in Hinds County, where several co-defendants, including the county’s former top prosecutor, were indicted in the bribery scandal in October 2024.
The plea comes just over a week after ex-Hinds County District Attorney Jody E. Owens II also entered a guilty plea in connection with the case, federal court records show. Owens then resigned from his post.
Lumumba faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine when he is sentenced, The Clarion Ledger, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported.
He had long denied wrongdoing in the case. Earlier this year, Lumumba unsuccessfully asked a judge to dismiss the indictment against him. Lumumba entered his plea just days before he was set to stand trial alongside former Jackson City Councilman Aaron Banks, also indicted in the investigation.
Court records show Banks remains set for trial on July 13.
What did Lumumba do?
In pleading guilty, Lumumba admitted his role in a corruption scheme stemming from an FBI undercover operation involving agents posing as Nashville real estate developers. The undercover agents were seeking support for a proposed downtown convention center hotel project that Lumumba’s administration was trying to build.
According to prosecutors, Lumumba agreed to accept $50,000 disguised as five $10,000 campaign contribution checks. In exchange, one of the agents asked Lumumba to move the city’s deadline for the hotel project from April 30 to April 10 or 15, giving the undercover FBI agents an advantage over other developers.
Prosecutors say the agreement was reached while Lumumba and Owens were aboard a yacht in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in April 2024 during what the agents presented as a “fundraiser.”
Lumumba then called a city employee and directed them to move the deadline to April 15, 2024. The criminal indictment shows a picture of Lumumba, sitting next to Owens, making a phone call. The second agent then gave Lumumba five $10,000 checks in an envelope. Another picture shows Lumumba holding an envelope and talking with Owens. Lumumba confirmed that the city employee had moved the deadline.
Owens, Lumumba and the agents went to a local club that night, where Owens directed the agents to make cash available for Lumumba to use at the establishment, according to the indictment.
When Lumumba got back to Jackson on April 4, 2024, the five $10,000 checks he received were deposited into his campaign bank account. Before that, Lumumba’s campaign account balance was approximately $465.30.
Who else was charged in the Jackson city bribery scandal?
Another high-profile defendant in the case, former Jackson City Council Vice President Angelique Lee, was also indicted, court records filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi show.
Lee resigned from the Jackson City Council in August 2024 before pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. Local businessman Sherik Smith, an associate of Owens, was also charged and pleaded guilty in October 2024. Their sentencing dates have been delayed indefinitely.
After Owens pleaded guilty to his role in the bribery scandal on June 29, legal experts at the University of Mississippi and Mississippi Christian predicted Lumumba would follow, saying the case was functionally strengthened against him.
Lumumba left the courthouse surrounded by his wife and sister and didn’t say anything to the media. He got in a black Mercedes and drove away.
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
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This story was originally published July 6, 2026 at 6:24 PM.