Sitting in a private room on a yacht in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens negotiated payments from two Nashville real estate developers interested in bidding on a Jackson development project.
What Lumumba and Owens didn’t realize is the payments they allegedly accepted were actually from two undercover FBI agents. The entire trip was part of an FBI sting into Jackson’s government, which would later lead to Lumumba, Owens, and Ward 6 Councilman Aaron Banks being federally indicted on felony bribery charges.
Lumumba, Banks and Owens all pleaded not guilty to federal charges at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse Thursday afternoon on charges that stem, partly, from that trip to the South Florida area.
A trial has been set for all parties for Jan. 6, 2025.
Here’s how the trip went down, according to the indictment:
After weeks of communication, Lumumba agreed to go on a trip with Owens, his associate Sherik Marve’ Smith and the undercover agents to Ft. Lauderdale in a private jet that was actually owned by the FBI. They called the trip a “fundraiser.”