The latest guilty plea follows that of former Jackson Coucilwoman Angelique Lee.
U.S. prosecutors released audio of the Oct. 17 hearing of Sherik Marve' Smith, providing more details on how he and another conspirator facilitated bribes to two unnamed City of Jackson elected officials.
Smith pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States, more specifically conspiracy to commit bribery, last week at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse. During the hearing, U.S. Attorney Kimberly Purdie recounted the events that led to Smith's arrest.
It started on Nov. 8, 2023, when Smith, "Unindicted Co-conspirator A" and a witness, known as "Witness 1," met with and agreed to help two real estate developers from Nashville who were aiming to build a downtown development in Jackson. The fee Smith and the co-conspirator demanded 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 leading to the City of Jackson's bribery scandal that has already taken down one member of the Jackson City Council.
What the 'developers' were after
The "developers" -- undercover FBI agents -- said they were interested in responding to the city's statement of qualifications for a "mixed used 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 used development" on Jan. 31.
But before that, Smith and "Unindicted Co-conspirator A" said they would help the undercover agents facilitate bribes to Jackson elected officials so the agents could get a leg up in the development project.
The undercover agents "relied on the defendant (Smith) and Co-conspirator A to determine which City of Jackson officials to bribe, how much to bribe those officials, when to bribe those officials, where to bribe those officials and the form that those bribes would take," Purdie said.
After submitting a public records request, the Clarion Ledger reported a company associated with District Attorney Jody Owens -- Facility Solutions Team LLC -- was one of three companies to respond to the city's RFP for the "mixed used development." The other two bidders were 2K Developments LLC and Speed Commercial Real Estate.
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January and February meetings
On Jan. 11, Smith, "Unindicted Co-conspirator A," "Unindicted Co-conspirator B," the undercover agents and former Ward 2 Councilwoman Angelique Lee all met for dinner. Lee would end up pleading 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 Jackson official, 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" requested $50,000 from the agents in exchange for a vote in support of the development project. Ward 7 Councilwoman and Council President Virgi Lindsay previously confirmed that only a member of the Jackson City Council can vote to approve a development project.
Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley previously told the Clarion Ledger he met with two out-of-town developers and Owens at Walker's Drive-In on Jan. 11 as well. Hartley was one of four other council members who admitted to attending meetings developers and Owens in the past year, though the council members couldn't verify if they met with the same undercover agents that Smith and Lee met with.
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Fast forward to Feb. 11. The undercover agents, Smith and "Unindicted Co-conspirator A" meet again with "Unindicted Co-conspirator B," who is given a $10,000 cash bribe. Additionally, the undercover agents said they would provide a driver service and pay to employ a family member of "Unindicted Co-conspirator B" who would work for "Unindicted Co-conspirator A."
Then "sometime in late February or early March 2024," prosecutors stated, the city moved the deadline of the "mixed used development" across the street from the Jackson Convention Complex from March 12 to the end of April. The purpose was to encourage additional developers to respond to the RFP, thereby increasing competition to the benefit of the city.
March and April meetings
At a March 28 meeting, the undercover agents were upset with the city's decision to move the RFQ deadline, telling Smith and "Unindicted Co-conspirator A" that they "blamed Co-conspirator B" for the RFQ deadline being pushed back, when they wanted it moved 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 moving up the RFQ deadline that was just pushed back.
"If that's an advantage for you guys, yes," said "Unindicted Co-conspirator B" to the 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.
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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 using money supplied from the undercover agents. Court documents allege the $10,000 went to Co-conspirator C's reelection committee.
"The intent of this arrangement was to disguise the source of the funds moving to co-conspirator C," Purdie said. "The 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 to shorten the RFP submission deadline."
On April 2, "Unindicted Co-conspirator C" received the $10,000 check, prosecutors stated, and "directed a City of Jackson employee to shorten the RFP deadline."
After Purdie finished laying out the federal prosecutors case, Chief District Judge Daniel Jordan asked Smith how we wished to plead.