The case also led to indictments against a former city council president and a district attorney.

After leaving the federal courthouse in Jackson, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said he would remain in office despite the allegations.

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

Lumumba’s allegations also involve Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens and at least two city council members, former Speaker Aaron Banks and Angelique Lee, who helped the developers get approval for a possible hotel project near the city’s convention center. Lee resigned from his city council seat and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery against him in August.

The city has been trying to build the hotel near the site for nearly two decades, and a multimillion-dollar loan was obtained in 2008 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to get the project up and running. The hotel had a completion date of June 2025, according to court documents.

Clandestine FBI employees posing as Nashville developers, TennesseeThey were in contact with Mississippi officials trying to build the hotel. Based on this information, it is alleged that Owens caused bribe payments to Lumumba, Banks and Lee.

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

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

Lumumba faces five charges, including one count of money laundering and one count of bribery in federal programs. Banks, a Democrat representing the city’s 6th District, has been charged with one count of bribery in a federal program, conspiracy to commit bribery in a federal program and honest services wire fraud and money laundering. He pleaded not guilty to the charges 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 developers’ payment was exchanged along with a request that the city move up the deadline for submitting proposals for the hotel project. Authorities alleging the deal say they have the interaction recorded on audio and video. The indictment also includes screenshots of the recording.

Although Banks was not on the trip to Fort Lauderdale, it is still alleged that she requested $50,000 in exchange for her support and that she received an envelope containing 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 developer’s proposed development project,” the indictment says.

in a 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 damn where the money comes from. It could come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t give a shit,” Owens said at one point, the indictment alleges. “I’m quite the district attorney.”

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