A Recap about J5 Global, LLC: August, 2022
J5 Global LLC identifies as an engineering and environmental consulting group founded by Jabari O. Edwards.
In June of this year, Edwards and his associate—Antwann Richardson– were indicted for defrauding the federal government and being charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Edwards is also charged with making false statements. Both have entered a plea of not guilty. A trial date was scheduled for November 14, 2022, been pushed back, and now is set to go to trial August 21, 2023.
Edwards, widely recognized as a business leader, sits on many local, state, and national boards. In July, an ethics complaint to the Mississippi Ethics Commission, identified that Edwards failed to file the required Statement of Economic Interest (SEI). Edwards last filed an economic interest statement in January 2015 when he was appointed to the Mississippi Business Finance Board, on which he still sits.
That state of Mississippi requires certain board and commission appointees file an SEI so that the public knows where their money comes from and help identify matters of self-dealing to protect the public interests. However, beyond 2015, Edwards has been appointed to other boards, including the Columbus Housing Authority, the Columbus Utilities Commission, Boys & Girls Club, Small Business Capitol Loan Fund Board, The North Mississippi Board for Regions Bank, National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, ReStart Mississippi, and is a fellow in the Royal Commonwealth Society. Some of his notable Mississippi political associates include former Governor Phil Bryant, Governor Tate Reeves, State Auditor Shad White, and former Columbus Mayor Robert Smith.
Has a finger in many pies. The Mississippi Secretary of State reports Edwards’ involvement in many other operations including, Young Business Men’s Enterprises, Inc. (manager), Broaddus Edwards (manager), BH Properties (member), Belstar (Vice President), J5 Café (manager), Bubba’s Hope (director and incorporator) North Atlantic Securities (director), The Bridge Group (manager) and We CU LLC. (manager).
After the 2021 Columbus municipal elections, J5 resigned as project manager for the City. Edwards previously served as the outgoing mayor’s campaign manager. The extent of Edwards’ business dealings with the City go further than just J5, however. Edwards’ BH Properties participates in a “Blight Elimination Program” managed by the Interim City Planner. As recently as the July 19, 2022, City Council meeting, the Interim City Planner reported that he “met with B. H. Properties about maintenance invoices; reimbursed B. H. Properties for property maintenance and taxes; and received cancelled Deed of Trust & Promissory Note on 1337 5th Street South.” Tax records show BH Properties as the owner.
BH Properties identifies as a specialist in blight removal and urban revitalization. Through BH, Edwards acquired several dilapidated properties in Sandfield neighborhood, and told the Commercial Dispatch in May 2018 that he had plans for a dozen single family homes, health care options, grocery stores….” That he dubbed “a sophisticated project,” he anticipated being completing by the end of 2018 or the first quarter of 2019. That project appears to be substantially behind the stated schedule.
Those Sandfield properties are the same that the City burned for BH Properties to “save him money.” (Taxpayer monies are not supposed to benefit a Private Citizen.) But the Fire Department did it anyway. Interestingly, the property owner must pay for asbestos remediation first. The City has yet to provide requested asbestos remediation certificates though it did provide an asbestos assessment indicating the presence of asbestos.
The City of Columbus Community Outreach Director, tendered her resignation in July 2022. She was also involved with Building Bridges of Hope, a non-profit she ran while being employed with the City. Tax records identify BH Properties as the owner of over 20 properties in Columbus. Building Bridges of Hope and BH Properties have past business dealings.
The City hired J5 to a new project manager position in 2013– for a yearly $90,000 consulting fee, a 6% project fee, plus expenses. The idea was that J5 would save taxpayers money by “getting grants” and oversee the day-to-day to ensure projects come in on time and on budget.
The City had to forego some funds in 2014 because it awarded a project improperly to J5, but J5 still got paid for management.
The City had to forego even more disaster recovery funds it would have been entitled to receive. The Public Information Officer (PIO) took over the claim process role from J5. The PIO laid the blame for the failure to qualify for funding based on J5 leaving things in a mess.
The City’s Auditor attributed some of the delay in completing the 2020 audit because the PIO was not timely providing requested accurate information.
J5 managed the construction projects for both the Amphitheater and the new Fire Station. Neither project met expectations for budget, timely completion, or quality.
PPP loans of $1,926,805 from your tax dollars went to Edwards’ J5 and North Atlantic Security. J5 received $433,000 in April of 2020 and $363,282.50 in January of 2021. North Atlantic Security received $563,000 in April 2020 and $567,522.50 in January 2021.
As of June 2021, the IRS had nine open tax liens, totaling more than $2.1 million, filed against J5 Global and its former subsidiary, North Atlantic Security Company, for consistently failing to pay federal payroll taxes since 2018, according to Lowndes County Chancery Court documents.
Given the recent revelations about J5 and its associates the City may do well to take another look at its on-going and past J5 group dealings.
