Chokwe Antar Lumumba, the former Democratic mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count of conspiracy over his part in a six-figure real estate bribery scheme. Lumumba, who led the state capital from 2017 to 2025, admitted accepting money linked to undercover FBI agents who were posing as property developers, making him the latest official to fall in a corruption case that has ensnared several Jackson figures.

According to the indictment, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens — also a Democrat, who pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy the previous week — solicited at least $115,000 from the supposed developers and funnelled more than $80,000 to Lumumba, former city council vice president Angelique Lee, and a relative of Owens. The purported Nashville developers, in fact FBI agents, sought official approval for a multi-million-dollar downtown Jackson project. Lumumba is said to have accepted $50,000 in campaign contributions knowing they were offered in exchange for backing the development.