The City of Jackson has been rocked by a bribery scandal that has already brought down a member of the Jackson City Council and involves at least two other Jackson elected officials.
On Thursday, Sherik Marve’ Smith pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson. Smith, along with “Unindicted Co-Conspirator A,” agreed to give cash payments, services and campaign contributions to “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” and “Unindicted Co-conspirator C.”
“Unindicted Co-conspirator B” and “Unindicted Co-conspirator C” are elected officials of the City of Jackson, according to court documents. All that is known of “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” is that they are a resident of Hinds County.
The bribes were in exchange for Unindicted Co-conspirator B’s vote for a downtown real estate development and for Unindicted Co-conspirator’s C’s agreement to move a deadline for the same project. Two undercover FBI agents, posed as real estate developers from Nashville, wanted to get involved in the city’s proposed downtown hotel project across the street from the Jackson Convention Complex. In fact, the city has been aiming to build that downtown hotel since the mid-2000s and released a statement of qualifications, or SOQ, in January.