The former mayor of Mississippi’s capital city pleaded guilty on Monday to bribery, wire fraud and money laundering, after saying a corruption case brought against him two years earlier was a “political prosecution”.
Chokwe Antar Lumumba was the mayor of Jackson in November 2024 when he was indicted by a federal grand jury after an FBI investigation and sting operation in which he and two other elected Democrats allegedly accepted illegal payments to secure a real estate deal.
At the time, Lumumba, who was first elected in 2017, denied impropriety and said the charges were politically motivated to harm his 2025 re-election campaign.
“To be clear, I have never accepted a bribe of any type,” he said. “As mayor, I have always acted in the best interests of the city of Jackson.”
On Monday, however, the 43-year-old Lumumba pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery, wire…
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