Embattled former Jackson mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba can no longer practice law in the state of Mississippi.
The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday announced that it had disbarred Lumumba following his guilty plea in a federal bribery scandal involving multiple local elected officials. The move followed Lumumba surrendering his legal license back in August.
Lumumba joined former Hinds County district attorney Jody Owens and former Jackson city councilman Aaron Banks in facing charges connected to a bid for a downtown convention center hotel project.
Owens, Lumumba, and Banks, along with former Jackson city councilwoman Angelique Lee and businessman Sherik Marve Smith, are said to have given favorable consideration to the informants’ downtown convention center hotel project in exchange for bribes.
Instead of Jackson getting a new hotel, however, federal authorities exposed a broader string of public corruption through bribes, private planes, strip clubs, and yachts, court records assert. Lumumba, specifically, admitted to accepting $50,000 disguised as campaign contributions in connection with the scheme. He then lost his reelection bid in July 2025 to former state Sen. John Horhn.
The Mississippi Supreme Court disbarred Owens in July. Like Lumumba, the former district attorney voluntarily surrendered his legal license and said he had no plans to fight his disbarment.
Lumumba, Owens, and Banks were supposed to face federal sentencing this month, but proceedings were moved to Nov. 5. All three men face up to five years in prison, fines of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release for their roles in a conspiracy involving a proposed convention center hotel in downtown Jackson.
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