Former ‘Empire’ television series star, Jussie Smollett has on Tuesday been indicted for allegedly staging a hate-crime attack against himself — nearly a year after charges in the case were abruptly dropped.
Cook County special prosecutor Dan Webb revealed this said that the star had been hit with six new counts of disorderly conduct, accusing Smollett of lying to the Chicago Police Department about the January 2019 incident.
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Webb said in news release that his investigation revealed that Smollett “planned and participated in a staged crime attack,” and then “made numerous false statements … reporting a heinous hate crime that he, in fact, knew had not occurred.”
It would be recalled that the 37-year-old actor, told cops that he was jumped by two men who shouted racist and homophobic slurs as well as, “This is MAGA country!” at him, in an attack that involved bleach and a noose.
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But huge holes quickly appeared in the high-profile case, and police ultimately determined that Smollett had concocted the whole thing, paying two Nigerian brothers $3,500 to stage the “attack.”
On March 8, he was hit with a 16-count felony indictment for filing a false police report only for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to abruptly drop all charges later that month.
Smollett was let off the hook with the slap on the wrist in exchange forfeiting the $10,000 he had paid for bail and performing community service.
Judge Michael Toomin appointed Webb, a former US attorney, in August to re-examine the case and look into why the charges were dropped.
Smollett’s arraignment is scheduled for February 24 and he faces between one to three years in jail, up to a $25,000 fine and community service if convicted on the fresh charges.
He is already facing a $130,000 lawsuit from the Windy City over the cost of the police and prosecutorial work to investigate his allegedly charges.
