JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – Indictments released Thursday allege Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens was using her position to leverage support for her full-time job as a developer.

Allegations in the federal bribery case against Owens, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Ward Six Councilman Aaron Banks were revealed Thursday.

He three face multiple felony charges in connection with a case of soliciting and accepting bribes for his support in bringing a convention center hotel to downtown Jackson.

According to the indictment, Owens was “ready, willing, and predisposed to engage in bribery since at least October 16, 2023” and boasted that he had enough information on all city council members to obtain approval votes.

Two confidential human informants posing as FBI agents had been involved with Owens since at least 2023, and even congratulated the district attorney on being re-elected to a second term.

“During Owens’ re-election victory party on November 7, 2023, upon being congratulated by developers, Owens spontaneously responded that his position as district attorney was ‘a part-time job.’ ‘Full-time work is developing…This is part-time work, to take advantage of full-time work.’”

The day after his re-election, documents show Owens, Sherik Marve’ Smith, Hinds County businessman and an unidentified witness met with the developers, where he and Smith negotiated an upfront payment of $250,000 to help the developers gain support for their project.

Owens received his first payment of $125,000 in cash in December, after he was flown by private jet to Ft. Lauderdale, where he met with so-called developers on a yacht.

After taking the money, he allegedly told the developers about all the power he wielded in the county.

“I’m not trying to emphasize this too much, guys, but my ability to process people… there’s only one me. So right now, every law enforcement agency is coming to us. Everyone needs something. Every file comes to us. “Everyone needs something fixed.”

In January of this year, the indictment shows that Owens informed developers that the city of Jackson would soon issue a request for quotations for a downtown development project, and the developers expressed interest in obtaining the project and council support.

“Owens stated that they would have to avoid paying too much money up front to city council members. Specifically, Owens stated: “I don’t know if you’ve been around addicts before, right? You can give them a little hit, a little joint, a little drink. But if you give them a case of whiskey, you give them a kilo of coke and you give half a kilo of marijuana. They will die,’” the documents state.

Meetings with councilors occurred shortly after. On January 11, the developers met with Owens, Smith and Banks. At that meeting, Banks told Owens he would need $50,000 to back his project, $25,000 now and $25,000 later.

Owens then informed the developers of the banks’ demand, telling them: “We never give you the asking price. I buy pussy, I buy cars, I buy cows, I buy drugs, whatever. My point is (the banks) need 50, you get 30. He gets dues. That’s my game. Some people will overpay and say, “I’m the one who needs more and others will choose who to pay.” Do you want 50? We’ll give you 15 this year and 15 next year.’”

The meetings took place at Owens’s Downtown Cigar Company and in his private office, which he called his ‘war room.’

After that meeting, the developers expressed concern that they did not have enough support for the project. Owens said they already had “leadership,” in the form of Lumumba and Banks, and that the other council members were “pawns.”

He then told informants that public officials finance their lives through campaign financing and that the best way to influence them was through campaign contributions. Owens said the money had to come through the state and that he had to clean up the cash by donating it through a Mississippi company.

“I don’t give a damn where the money comes from. It could come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t give a shit. I’m quite the district attorney. Fuck that shit. “My job, as I understand it, with a little paperwork, is to close this deal and do it in the most effective way,” he said.

In February, the developers gave Owens $60,000 in cash: $25,000 for him, $25,000 for Banks and $10,000 for Lee. The cash would be stored in a secure location at the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office until it was distributed.

Banks received $10,000 on February 13, understanding that he was being paid for his vote on the developers’ project. The banks also accepted employment for a family member and a protection service from the developers.

Between March and May 2024, developers spent $1,500 on Banks’ protective equipment and $4,800 on the family member’s employment.

Lee received $10,000 on February 15 to pay his outstanding campaign debt via a wire transfer from Owens. Owens later sent the developers proof of payment via text message.

The former city councilwoman needed the money, in part, because their checks were being seized as part of a court settlement to repay $21,000 in printing costs for your campaign.

In August, Lee pleaded guilty to accepting nearly $20,000 in bribes and cash. As part of his plea deal, he will have to repay the amount.

Owens also offered other advice to developers, including the need to get the mayor’s support, saying Lumumba could “cause damage” to their project through the request for quotes process. Owens was also said to have called city officials regarding the dates on the quote request.

An RFQ is a request for qualifications. Cities issue these types of requests when looking for companies to take on professional projects. Earlier this year, Jackson issued a request for quotation for a hotel at a convention center. FBI informants, posing as the Facilities Solutions Team, responded. Owens was included as a partner in his proposal.

The RFQ was issued in January. The original deadline to respond was March 12. However, it was extended until April 30 to allow for additional submissions.

At a meeting on March 5, Owens was said to have communicated with a city employee several times about the decision to change the date. He was also said to have discussed an imminent trip Lumumba would make to Florida to meet with developers. Later that day, he sent a text message to the developers saying he had contacted the mayor, and the mayor was “aware of the developers’ desire to move up the RFQ submission deadline.”

(READ: Mayor on bribery scandal: ‘I have never conspired with anyone to commit a crime’)

As for the Florida trip, Owens said it would be a campaign fundraiser, “and they could have ‘ten guys with ten checks’ for Lumumba or Owens could give Lumumba ten checks in an envelope.”

“What we used to do, if people wanted to fly under the radar, they would just hand themselves a bunch of different checks from a bunch of different companies,” he said.

On March 10, Owens called the developers to tell them that the mayor agreed with the plan, and on March 19, he opened a checking account in the name of the developers’ company in order to “channel and hide future bribes.”

On April 2, Lumumba, Owens, Smith and the developers traveled to Florida on a private jet paid for by the FBI on behalf of the developers. After arriving, the mayor and Owens met with the developers in a private room on a yacht. The meeting was recorded and a transcript of the discussion was included in the indictment.

Owens: “We want to be very conscious of out-of-state money.”

Lumumba: “Yeah.”

Owens: “So what this team did was give us the money, being me, and we just filtered it through various accounts in a way that we were comfortable with.”

Lumumba: “Yeah.”

Owens: “So we did five $10,000 checks to make it very simple, and then we moved the process forward, into our second phase, maybe in Jackson, maybe somewhere else… we’ll do something similar.”

Lumumba: “Yeah.”

Owens: “…to make sure there are no financial concerns on you in this because you are as much a part of this as anyone.”

Then, at the urging of developer one, Lumumba called a city employee to order them to postpone the quote request deadline to April 15. Developer 2 then presented the mayor with five $10,000 checks.

Just days earlier, Banks told developers that he was also working with the city to change the date of the RFQ, and said he could “threaten to delay pay increases for city employees to further the developers’ ends.” “, according to court records. .

The city website indicates Banks is currently the chair of the council’s Finance Committee. In that role, he led efforts to establish the city’s budget for fiscal year 2024-25.

Owens later pocketed another $50,000 in cash. That night, the mayor, Owens, the developers and others went to a local club.

On April 5, a check for $9,500 was made payable to the mayor from his campaign account. On April 8, another $5,000 check was made out to Lumumba on his own. Both checks were cashed.

On May 22, the FBI executed a search warrant at the district attorney’s office. During the search, agents found $20,000 in cash in a book titled “The Constitution of the United States of America.” Approximately $9,000 of that amount was confirmed to have the same serial numbers as the cash given to him by the FBI.

Owens is charged with eight counts, including one count of conspiracy, three counts of bribery in federal programs, use of interstate facilities to assist organized crime, honest services wire fraud and false statements. If convicted, he faces up to 90 years in federal prison and $2 million in fines.

Lumumba faces five charges: conspiracy, bribery in federal programs, use of interstate facilities to assist organized crime, honest services wire fraud and money laundering. He faces up to 75 years in prison and fines of up to $1.5 million.

Banks is accused of conspiracy and bribery in federal programs. He faces up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

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