Actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury on six new charges of disorderly conduct in Chicago after an investigation by special prosecutor Dan Webb in connection with the alleged January 2019 racist and homophobic attack.
“Based on the recommendation of the OSP (Office of the Special Prosecutor), a Cook County grand jury returned a six-count indictment charging Jussie Smollett with making four separate false reports to Chicago Police Department officers related to his false claims that he was the victim of a hate crime, knowing that he was not the victim of a crime,” said Webb.
FOX32 first reported the news, and Chicago’s ABC7 confirmed the indictment with the Cook County Clerk’s Office.
ABC7 added: “Smollett had been charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about the alleged attack, which police say Smollett staged on himself because he was unhappy with his “Empire” salary. Police and prosecutors said Smollett orchestrated the attack with the help of two brothers. One brother was an extra on “Empire” and the other was Smollett’s personal trainer. All charges against Smollett were dropped in late February 2019 in exchange for community service and forfeiture of his $10,000 bond payment.”
Webb was appointed in June 2019 to investigate why charges were dropped. Smollett later sought to overturn that appointment.
Smollett is due in court on February 24.
Statement from attorney of the Osundairo brothers. @cbschicago pic.twitter.com/sFB8QX8E63
— Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) February 11, 2020
