‘I don’t give a s*** where the money comes from. … I’m a whole DA,’ Jody Owens allegedly told FBI informants
A Mississippi district attorney backed by Democratic megadonor George Soros and a Mississippi mayor endorsed by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) have been indicted on federal bribery charges.
The Justice Department alleges that Hinds County district attorney Jody Owens and Jackson mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, both Democrats, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from two FBI informants posing as real estate developers seeking projects in downtown Jackson, Miss.
According to prosecutors, Owens solicited $115,000 in bribes from the informants and directed them to pay bribes to Lumumba. The mayor accepted $50,000 in bribes in exchange for “exerting his influence and taking official action relating to the Developers’ proposed project in downtown Jackson,” prosecutors allege.
Owens and Lumumba ascended to their offices with the help of Soros and Sanders, respectively. Owens, who was elected in 2019 on a platform of providing “alternatives to incarceration,” received $500,000 that year from Soros’s Mississippi Justice and Public Safety PAC, according to the Capital Research Center. Owens, a former attorney for the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center, was accused during his race for district attorney of sexual harassment. While in office, he has been accused of pulling a gun on a man at the home of his chief of staff.
Sanders endorsed Lumumba, who has called himself a “revolutionary” who aimed to make Jackson “the most radical city on the planet,” in 2021.
“I’m proud to endorse Mayor Chokwe Lumumba for reelection because he is a consistent fighter for the working families of Jackson, Mississippi,” Sanders wrote at the time. “As Mayor, he has been a strong advocate for justice, progress, and equity.”
Owens and Lumumba each face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. They pleaded not guilty on Thursday.
“Officials who abuse their positions of authority to enrich themselves undermine public confidence in government. The Justice Department is committed to restoring that confidence by working with its law enforcement partners to investigate and prosecute public corruption,” said Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division.
According to prosecutors, Owens discussed the bribery scheme in a series of conversations with the undercover FBI agents from October 2023 to May 2024.
According to prosecutors, Owens told informants he would have to launder their bribery payments through a company he owned. He also bragged about his power as district attorney to blackmail Jackson City Council members.
“I don’t give a shit where the money comes from,” he said. “It can come from blood diamonds in Africa, I don’t give a fucking shit. I’m a whole DA. Fuck that shit. My job, as I understand it, with a little paperwork, is to get this deal done, and get it done most effectively.”
The charges against Owens mark another embarrassing turn for a Soros-backed prosecutor. Soros has poured millions of dollars into district attorney races to elect prosecutors running on platforms to reform the criminal justice system, either through initiatives to defund police, eliminate cash bail, or end prosecutions for drug offenses, shoplifting, and other crimes.
Soros funded the campaign of former St. Louis circuit attorney Kim Gardner (D.), who resigned in May 2023 over her handling of a case in which an armed robbery suspect, who had violated his bond dozens of times, paralyzed a teenage girl in a car accident.
Other Soros-backed prosecutors have faced successful recall efforts or been voted out of office amid concerns about soft-on-crime policies. Voters in Alameda County, Calif., which encompasses Oakland, this week recalled District Attorney Pamela Price (D.). Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón (D.) lost in a landslide to former federal prosecutor Nathaniel Hochman (I.).
In 2022, former Tallahassee, Fla., mayor Andrew Gillum (D.), endorsed by Sanders and backed by Soros, was indicted on federal wire fraud and conspiracy charges for allegedly diverting campaign donations to the firm of one of his advisers.
