OXFORD — After 9 1/2 hours of deliberation, a jury late Friday afternoon acquitted both Jabari Edwards and Antwann Richardson of all charges against them.
Edwards and Richardson both burst into tears and embraced as the long litany of individual verdicts — 17 charges against each man — was read out by the court clerk, who herself struggled with tears as the “not guilty” verdicts rolled in.
Edwards’ attorney, Chandler Rogers, declined to comment until he had the opportunity to talk it over with his client. Victor Fleitas, who represented Richardson, declined to comment.
The Dispatch had not been able to contact the United States Attorney’s Office by press time.
Closing arguments
Both sides made closing arguments to the jury Thursday afternoon, with the prosecution describing the case as a simple one concerning greed and the defense claiming the government didn’t have a case.
The Columbus men each faced 17 criminal counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and making false statements. The prosecution claims the pair defrauded the government of about $3.3 million in federal pandemic relief funds.
The case centers around a group of companies owned by Edwards, which includes J5 Solutions, J5 GBL, the Bridge Group and North Atlantic Security Services, among others. Also involved is Edwards’ personal, limited-liability company Edwards Enterprises. Edwards owned the companies, but Richardson oversaw the day-to-day operations of the J5 companies.
Thursday’s court activities were heavily attended by Columbus officials, including former mayor Robert Smith, Ward 1 Councilwoman Ethel Stewart, Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones, Recreation Director Greg Lewis and City Attorney Jeff Turnage.
Assistant United States Attorney Robert Mims handled the first part of the government’s closing.
Because the burden of proof falls on the government, prosecutors are given the first opportunity to address the jury, but also get the final word.
“This is a simple case,” Mims said. “It’s about lying and stealing.”
Mims argued that the evidence showed that Edwards and Richardson were “short of money and drowning in debt” and desperation convinced them to go after federal relief dollars to keep the lights on.
Mims said Edwards falsely represented Edwards Enterprises income in tax year 2019 to qualify for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan. In actuality, the company’s only income came in the form of “kickbacks” from RDI. That company, owned by Russell Sheffield, was subcontracted by J5 GBL to perform cleanup work at the former Kerr-McGee site in Columbus.
“J5 paid RDI $9 million to do work,” Mims said. “As soon as J5 paid an RDI invoice, (Sheffield) turned around and wrote (Edwards) a check. It was kickbacks.”
Mims argued that NAS was no longer functioning after March 2021, and that Edwards and Richardson knew they were going to sell the company’s contracts and shut it down when they applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan in January of that year.
Mims cited an email from attorney Corky Smith, who was representing NAS, that described the company as “defunct” and “barely functioning,” as well as testimony from former J5 comptroller Christina Steadman that NAS effectively had no employees or active contracts after March 2021.
Records showing payroll expenses for NAS after March were for pass-through funds destined for American Sentry, which bought NAS’ contracts and was doing business in Lowndes County and Montgomery County, Texas, so that existing contracts would not have to be rebid, Mims said.
Money that came in for NAS and Edwards Enterprises should have been used for those companies and was not, Mims argued. Although the defense argued that NAS was owned by J5 GBL, and so GBL could legally use money sent to NAS because the companies were affiliated, Mims cited testimony by former J5 accountant Pat Davidson that Edwards personally owned the company.
“(Davidson) said the J5 companies weren’t set up to work that way,” Mims said.
Rogers and Fleitas: Government unfairly prosecuted Edwards and Richardson
“I listened to (Mims) and it’s almost like I haven’t been in the courtroom for the last two weeks,” Chandler Rogers, Edwards’ attorney, said. He said the government’s case was “built on lies,” and specifically singled out Steadman’s testimony as being dishonest.
Rogers accused Steadman of doing the same thing Edwards and Richardson are accused of — fraudulently applying for PPP funds for American Sentry employees she knew had already been paid relief dollars by NAS. Rogers said Steadman’s claims that NAS had no employees were false — a handful of employees stayed on to transition NAS to We C U, which would focus on surveillance and cybersecurity.
Rogers said federal agent Dietrich Bohmer deliberately chose not to record Edwards’ alleged confession or let him write out his own statement so that he could shape Edwards’ words in the most damning way possible.
Sheffield, Rogers said, had filed tax returns showing the payments he made to Edwards were for consulting work and yet testified that the checks were “gifts.”
“Did he lie to the IRS, or lie to y’all?” Rogers asked.
Richardson’s attorney, Victor Fleitas, said the government “wholly failed” to back up its allegations of conspiracy.
“You heard testimony that there was distrust between (Edwards and Richardson),” Fleitas said. “Distrust is not an ingredient for conspiracy.”
There was no criminal intent, Fleitas said, and changes to Small Business Administration regulations meant that the way Edwards and Richardson spent EIDL money was legal at the time.
Attempts to prosecute Richardson for decisions made with Edwards Enterprises’ EIDL money were “guilt by association” and “odious,” Fleitas argued.
Richardson “is not a bit of a liar or a cheat,” Fleitas said. “I resent him being referred to that way.
Brian Jones is the local government reporter for Columbus and Lowndes County.
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