After the August resignation, indictment, and subsequent guilty plea of former Ward 2 Jackson councilwoman Angelique Lee on federal bribery charges, another person has been charged in connection with the ongoing investigation.
Federal court documents revealed that Sherik Marve Smith, of Hinds County, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. At a hearing following the indictment, Smith pleaded guilty before Chief District Judge Daniel Jordan.
The records allege Smith was part of a multi-party conspiracy to ensure that money from FBI agents posing as real estate developers from Nashville, Tenn. would be funneled to Jackson city officials in order to influence a staged development project. Three other unidentified individuals are outlined in the bill of information – named “Co-conspirator A” and “Co-conspirators B and C” – all of which have yet to be indicted in the case.
Two FBI agents, who worked as confidential sources and posed as real estate developers, are identified as “Individual 1 and Individual 2” in the records.
According to an independent investigation from WLBT, Smith and Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens submitted a request in March for qualifications to the city of Jackson for the development of a convention center hotel in the capital city. An FBI raid ensued of multiple businesses owned by Owens, along with his office at the Hinds County Courthouse.
The documents, which were unsealed Thursday, state that Smith and Co-conspirator A funneled payments to Co-conspirators B and C in exchange for votes on a proposed real estate development in Jackson and for Co-conspirator C’s “direction to one or more city employees to move a deadline in favor of Individual 1 and Individual 2’s proposed real estate development.”
In the introduction page of the file, Co-conspirators B and C are labeled as “elected officials of the City of Jackson, Mississippi.”
Co-conspirator C’s alleged direction of city employees to move deadlines alludes to the possibility that Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba is tied into the conspiracy and that Co-conspirator B is a city council member – the only city official who can vote on such projects.
Several payments are also alleged in the records, including a $10,000 cash payment to “unindicted Co-conspirator B, protective services for Co-conspirator B, and an employment opportunity for a family member of Co-conspirator B,” along with a $10,000 check from Smith to Co-conspirator C’s “re-election committee using funds from Individual 1 and Individual 2 after those funds have been routed through an account belonging to… Co-conspirator A.”
After Lee pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges, records showed that she received a $3,000 payment from Individual 1 and Individual 2, along with a $6,000 shopping spree for luxury items using an FBI agent’s credit card.
Lee abruptly resigned from her city council position ahead of the indictment and guilty plea to conspiracy to commit bribery. Her sentencing date, originally set for November 13, was recently suspended until further notice by a judge.
In a response to a statement request from SuperTalk Mississippi News, Jackson Director of Communications Melissa Faith Payne said: “We have no additional knowledge about that case. It would be inappropriate for us to comment.”
