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More details on how 2 Jackson MS elected officials were bribed

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More details on how 2 Jackson MS elected officials were bribed

Exact dates of meetings and more details about bribes handed out by US attorneys

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U.S. prosecutors released audio from Sherik Marve’ Smith’s Oct. 17 hearing, providing more details about how he and another co-conspirator facilitated bribes to two unnamed Jackson city elected officials.

Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, specifically conspiracy to commit bribery, last week at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse. During the hearing, US Attorney Kimberly Purdie recounted the events that led to Smith’s arrest.

It began on November 8, 2023, when Smith, “Unindicted Co-conspirator A,” and a witness, known as “Witness 1,” met and agreed to help two Nashville real estate developers who wanted to build a downtown development of the city in jackson The fee Smith and the co-conspirator asked for their help was $100,000 each.

Unbeknownst to Smith and his co-conspirator, the two Nashville developers were actually undercover FBI agents. The meeting would set in motion the events that led to the City of Jackson bribery scandal that has already ousted one member of the Jackson City Council.

What were the ‘developers’ looking for?

The “developers” — undercover FBI agents — said they were interested in responding to the city’s statement of qualifications for a “mixed-use development” across the street from the Jackson Convention Complex. The city issued a request for proposals (RFP) or statement of qualifications (SOQ) for the “mixed-use development” on Jan. 31.

But before that, Smith and “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” said they would help undercover agents facilitate bribes to Jackson’s elected officials so the agents could push the development project.

Undercover agents “relied on defendant (Smith) and co-conspirator A to determine which Jackson City officials to bribe, how much to bribe those officials, when to bribe those officials, where to bribe those officials, and how those bribes. would take,” Purdie said.

After filing a public records request, the Clarion Ledger reported that a company associated with District Attorney Jody Owens — Facility Solutions Team LLC — was one of three companies that responded to the city’s RFP for to “mixed-use development”. The other two bidders were 2K Developments LLC and Speed ​​Commercial Real Estate.

Angelique Lee Bribery Case: Hear how prosecutors say the bribe happened between Angelique Lee and the undercover FBI

January and February meetings

On January 11, Smith, “Unindicted Co-conspirator A,” “Unindicted Co-conspirator B,” the undercover agents, and former Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee met for dinner. Lee would eventually plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in August.

Like Lee, who was vice president of the Jackson City Council at the time of the dinner, “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” is an elected official in Jackson, court documents show.

After dinner, the agents, Smith, “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” and “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” held another meeting without Lee. It was there that “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” asked the agents for $50,000 in exchange for a vote of support for the development project. Ward 7 Councilwoman and Council President Virgi Lindsay previously confirmed that only one Jackson City Council member can vote to approve a development project.

Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley previously told the Clarion Ledger that he also met with two out-of-town developers and Owens at Walker’s Drive-In on Jan. 11. Hartley was one of four other council members who admitted to attending meetings with developers and Owens last year, although council members could not verify whether they met with the same undercover agents as Smith and Lee they met

Jackson Water System: Why Judge Wingate Was Upset by EPA, DOJ Public Meetings on Jackson Water System

Fast forward to February 11th. The undercover agents, Smith and “Unindicted Co-Conspirator A” re-encounter “Unindicted Co-Conspirator B,” who receives a $10,000 cash bribe. In addition, the undercover agents said they would provide a chauffeur service and pay to hire a family member of “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” to work for “Unindicted Co-conspirator A.”

Then, “sometime in late February or early March 2024,” prosecutors said, the city moved the deadline for the “mixed-use development” across from the Jackson Convention Complex from 12 March to the end of April. The goal was to encourage additional developers to respond to the RFP, thereby increasing competition to the city’s benefit.

March and April meetings

At a March 28 meeting, undercover agents were upset with the city’s decision to push back the RFQ deadline, telling Smith and “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” that they were “blaming Co-conspirator B ” that the RFQ deadline was delayed, when they wanted to move forward.

“Unindicted Co-conspirator B” was also present at the meeting. Smith and “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” asked “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” if he would support advancing the RFQ deadline that had just been delayed.

“If that’s an advantage to you, yes,” “Unindicted Co-conspirator B” told undercover agents.

Shortening the deadline, which the city ended up doing, was a move made by “Unindicted Co-Conspirator C,” another Jackson elected official, according to court documents.

More on the bribery scandal: Who are the elected officials mentioned in the Jackson bribery scandal? What we know

On April 1, Smith wrote a check for $10,000 to an “entity owned or controlled” by “Unindicted Co-conspirator C.” An agreement was made that “Unindicted Co-conspirator A” would reimburse Smith’s $10,000 check with the money supplied by the undercover agents. Court documents allege the $10,000 went to co-conspirator C’s re-election committee.

“The intent of this agreement was to disguise the source of the funds being moved to co-conspirator C,” Purdie said. “Defendant (Smith) knew that his $10,000 check would be delivered to co-conspirator C, in exchange for co-conspirator C’s agreement to take official action and shorten the RFP submission deadline.”

On April 2, “Unindicted Co-conspirator C” received the $10,000 check, prosecutors said, and “told a Jackson City employee to shorten the RFP deadline.”

After Purdie finished laying out the federal prosecutors’ case, Chief District Judge Daniel Jordan asked Smith how we wanted to plead.

“Guilty,” Smith said.

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