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

On Thursday, indictments were unsealed in the federal bribery case against Owens, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Sixth District Councilman Aaron Banks.

three face multiple charges in connection with a case of soliciting and accepting bribes for their support of building a convention center hotel in downtown Jackson.

According to the indictment, Owens was “ready, willing and able to engage in bribery at least as of October 16, 2023,” and boasted to all city council members that he had enough dirt to get the votes certified.

Two undercover human informants posing as FBI agents had a relationship with Owens dating back to at least 2023 and even congratulated the prosecutor on being re-elected to a second term.

“Upon being congratulated by developers during Owens’ re-election victory party on November 7, 2023, Owens said, unprompted, that his job as district attorney was a ‘part-time job.’ The full-time job is thriving… It’s part-time work to get an advantage for the full-time job.’”

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

Owens received his first cash payment of $125,000 in December, after flying on a private jet to Ft. He met with the alleged developers on a yacht in Lauderdale.

After receiving the money, he allegedly told the developers about all the power he had in the county.

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

In January of this year, the indictment states that Owens notified developers that the city of Jackson would soon issue an RFQ for a downtown development project and that the developers were interested in pursuing the project and the city’s support.

“Owens advised city council members that they should avoid paying too much up front. Owens specifically said: ‘I don’t know if you’ve ever been around addicts before, have you? You can give them some blow, some blunt, some booze. But if you give them a case of whiskey, a pound of coke, you’ll give them a pound of weed. They will die,” the documents say.

Meetings were held with council members shortly afterwards. On January 11, developers Owens met with Smith and Banks. At that meeting, Banks told Owens he would need $50,000 to support his projects; $25,000 of that will be now and $25,000 later.

Owens later informed the developers of the Bank’s demand, telling them: “We never give them the asking price. I buy cats, I buy cars, I buy cows, I buy drugs, whatever. I mean, (Banks) need 50 , you get 30. That’s my game. Some people will overpay and say, ‘I’m the guy who needs more and some will choose who to pay it to.’ We will give you ‘

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

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

He later told informants that public officials finance their lives through campaign finance, and the best way to influence them is through campaign contributions. Owens said the money had to come from the state and he had to clear it by donating it through a Mississippi company.

“I don’t specify where the money comes from. It might come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t care. I’m a real prosecutor. Fuck this. “My job, as I understand it, is to get this deal done with a little paperwork and to make sure it’s done in the most efficient way,” he said.

In February, the developers gave Owens $60,000 in cash; $25,000 for himself, $25,000 for Banks, and $10,000 for Lee. The cash will be kept in a secure location at the Hinds County District Attorney’s Office until distributed.

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

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

On February 15, Lee received $10,000 to pay off outstanding campaign debt from Owens via wire transfer. Owens then sent proof of payment to the developers via a message.

The former city councilman partly needed the money. Because their checks were being garnished as part of a court agreement to repay $21,000. in the printing costs of the campaign.

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

Owens offered other advice to developers, including the need to get the mayor’s support, saying Lumumba could “hurt” their projects through the RFQ process. Owens was also said to have called city officials regarding the dates in the RFQ.

An RFQ is a request for qualifications. Cities make such demands when looking for companies to undertake professional projects. Earlier this year, Jackson issued a request for proposals for a convention center hotel. FBI informants posing as the Facilities Solutions Team responded. Owens was included as a partner in their bid.

The RFQ was published in January. Originally, the deadline for response was March 12. However, this deadline has been extended until April 30 to allow additional applications.

At a March 5 meeting, Owens was said to have contacted a city employee multiple times regarding the decision to change the date. Lumumba was also said to be discussing a trip to Florida to meet with developers. Later that day, he contacted the mayor by texting the developers, and the mayor was “aware of the developers’ desire to move up the RFQ submission date.”

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

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

“What we used to do was if people wanted to stay out of the spotlight, you would give them a bunch of different checks from a bunch of different companies,” he said.

On March 10, Owens called the developers to tell them the mayor had agreed to the scheme, and on March 19 he opened a checking account in the name of the developers’ company for the purpose of “transferring and concealing 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 added to the indictment.

– Owens: “We want to be very careful with out-of-state money.”

Lumumba: “Yes.”

– Owens: “So what this team did was give us the money because I was the one, and we filtered it through a couple of accounts conveniently.’”

Lumumba: “Yes.”

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

Lumumba: “Yes.”

– Owens: “…to make sure there’s no concern about you financially in this, because you’re as big a part of this thing as anyone else.”

Later, at the behest of developer 1, Lumumba called a city employee and directed him to postpone the RFQ deadline to April 15. Developer 2 then presented the mayor with five $10,000 checks.

Just days earlier, Banks told developers he was working with the city to change the RFQ date and that “the developers could threaten to delay pay increases for city employees to achieve their goals,” court records say. .

The city’s website says Banks is currently chairman of the council’s Finance Committee. In this role, he led efforts to determine the city’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget.

Owens later collected another $50,000 for himself. That night, the mayor, Owens, the developers and others went to a local club.

On April 5, a check for $9,500 was deposited to the mayor’s campaign account. On April 8, Lumumba was paid another check for $5,000 on his account. Both checks were cashed.

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

Owens is charged with eight felonies, including one count of conspiracy, three counts of federal program bribery, use of interstate facilities for the purpose of racketeering, honest services wire fraud and making false statements. If convicted, he faces up to 90 years in federal prison and a fine of up to $2 million.

Lumumba faces five charges: conspiracy, federal program bribery, use of interstate facilities for the purpose of racketeering, honest services wire fraud and money laundering. He faces up to 75 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.5 million.

The banks are accused of conspiracy and federal program bribery. He faces up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

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