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Jackson MS Council Meetings with Developers

In 2024, four Jackson City Council members met individually with real estate developers interested in building a downtown project.

The same was true of former Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee. But the “developers” she met with turned out to be undercover FBI agents, as was revealed last week when Lee resigned from the council and hours later pleaded guilty to taking bribes from the agents to get her vote for an undisclosed downtown development.

Council members the Clarion Ledger spoke with could not confirm whether the developers they met with were the same “developers” Lee met with who claimed to be from Nashville.

What all of the individual meetings described by the council members have in common is that they were arranged by Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens. District Attorney Owens is also “in the real estate business,” which is perfectly legal, according to his attorney. Owens and his attorney, Rob McDuff, declined to answer questions about the council members' meetings with developers and Owens, and only issued a statement.

When did the meetings take place?

1st District Councilman Ashby Foote said he met “three or four” developers and Owens at the Capital Club on Feb. 29. 4th District Councilman Brian Grizzell said he spoke with one of the developers during a groundbreaking at the Russell C. Davis Planetarium on Feb. 14. 5th District Councilman Vernon Hartley said he met two developers and Owens at Walker's Drive-In on Jan. 11. 7th District Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay said she met three developers and Owens at Ely's Restaurant and Bar on Feb. 28.

The meetings with Lee took place in February and March, according to court documents. During these meetings, she ultimately accepted nearly $20,000 in “cash, deposits and other gifts.”

District 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes and District 6 Councilman Aaron Banks were unavailable for comment. Asked if Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba had meetings with developers, city spokeswoman Melissa Payne said, “We have no comment on that.”

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All of these meetings took place before May 22, the day the FBI raided Owens' office and business and also visited Jackson City Hall.

What was discussed at the meetings?

Foote called the meeting “puzzling.” Grizzell said his meeting was “very spontaneous” and he couldn't remember much of what was said. Hartley's meeting was “not very memorable.” Lindsay said she left “unimpressed.”

According to Foote, Hartley and Lindsay, the developers and Owens did not propose a specific development project for downtown, but simply stated that they were interested in investing in Jackson.

“I was told to come over there and tell a little bit about my district,” Hartley said. “DA Owens said, 'I have some people from out of town who want to find out a little bit about your district and are potential investors. It has nothing to do with the county.' So I said OK.”

Foote said there were “no details” about any development during his meeting. Lindsay said the same.

“We didn't get into the details of their investment plans. There were no renderings, no business cards, they didn't talk about their track record (as investors) and what they've done so far,” Foote said, adding that the only thing he wrote down from the meeting was a note about the “Facility Solutions Team.”

Facility Solutions Team LLC is a company that Owens founded on March 19, according to the Mississippi Department of State's website. The company's business purpose is listed as “other real estate-related activities.”

Lindsay also said that neither the developers nor Owens gave her much insight into what they were trying to develop.

“I asked them in the meeting where their proposal was. And I said, 'Usually when I have a meeting like this about something that's being proposed for downtown, I get at least some concrete stuff or a proposal,'” Lindsay said. “I asked that very clearly and asked, 'Where's your stuff?' And they said, 'Oh, we're working on that; maybe we'll be done tomorrow and we can turn it in.'”

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Lindsay said she had met the developers before at a groundbreaking for the planetarium – where Grizzell said they first met on Feb. 14. She attended the meeting because Owens asked her to and because downtown Jackson is in Lindsay's District 7.

“It's my district and when something is so central and important and represents such a big investment in downtown Jackson, I felt like I should at least know what was being talked about. That's why I went,” Lindsay said.

When asked if anyone from the FBI had visited them since their one-on-one interviews, Hartley and Grizzell denied it. Foote said he met with FBI agents “either in late May or early June” and they told me I was not the subject of their investigation. Lindsay did not comment on whether FBI agents had visited her.

Statement by DA Owens

Owens' attorney, Rob McDuff, declined to answer questions about council members' meetings with Owens and the developers, but referred to a statement released Friday.

The full statement can be found below:

“Jody Owens has dedicated his life to public service, including as an intelligence officer in the United States Naval Reserve, as director of the Mississippi Office of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and currently as the District Attorney of Hinds County. To our knowledge, the federal investigation does not affect Jody's service as District Attorney.

“For the past 15 years, Jody has also been involved in real estate development. This type of private business activity is permitted by law, even during the time a person is serving as a prosecutor. Jody owns two properties in downtown Jackson and has always supported downtown development and the growth of the city. Two gentlemen who claimed they were successful large-scale developers with their own development company approached him about the possibility of building a convention center hotel in Jackson. He believed them and after several conversations agreed to help them. It turned out that they were agents of the FBI.

“Given the status of the investigation, I do not consider it appropriate to say anything else at this time.”

The statement speaks of a “possibility of building a convention center hotel.” The city of Jackson has been pursuing exactly this goal since at least 2018, especially in the last two years.

In March 2023, the city's Planning and Development Department requested a request for proposals for “A Feasibility/Market Analysis for a Hotel and Parking Garage in the Central Business District of Downtown Jackson, Mississippi.”

And in July 2023, the city issued another request for proposals for a “mixed-use complex” seeking a developer to build a 335-room hotel, green space and a 1,200-space parking garage. The potential complex would be built in the parking lot across from the Jackson Convention Complex, replacing it.

WLBT reported that the city issued another request for proposals for the same project in January 2024, but the proposal could not be found on the city's “bid opportunities” website.

It is unclear whether anyone responded.

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