Jussie Smollett indicted by jury for allegedly staging own hate crime
A US actor accused of staging a hate crime against himself to raise his profile and lying to police about it has been indicted by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury.
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An American actor accused of lying to police about a hate crime in 2019 has been indicted by a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury.
Special prosecutor Dann Webb confirmed Jussie Smollett, 37, will now face six counts of disorderly conduct in a statement on Wednesday.
The gay African-American man, 37, is accused of lying to Chicago police when he reported a racist and homophobic attack on January 29 last year.
It is alleged he made four separate false reports to Chicago Police Department officers.
Smollett told police two masked men approached him while out in downtown Chicago getting food from a Subway restaurant at about 2am.
He said they made racist and homophobic remarks before beating him, looping a noose around his neck, pouring an “unknown substance” on him and fleeing.
Smollett claimed the assailants, at least one of whom he said was white, told him he was in “MAGA country” – a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
The attack allegedly came after Smollett received a racist and homophobic threatening letter at the studio in Chicago where TV drama Empire is filmed, which police said they believe he sent himself.
Weeks after the incident, authorities revealed Smollett allegedly paid two Nigerian friends $3500 to stage the attack as he was unhappy with his salary as an actor on drama television series Empire.
The attack was used to drum up publicity for his career, authorities alleged.
Smollett was then charged with disorderly conduct in February 2019. However, the charges were dropped with little explanation the following month.
Webb, a former US attorney, was then appointed by a judge to look into why the original chargers were dropped.
He also looked at whether calls Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had with a Smollett relative and an ex-aide of former first lady Michelle Obama unduly influenced the decision to drop the charges.
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Foxx recused herself from the case but continued to weigh in.
“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,” Webb said in a statement.
The statement immediately raised questions about county prosecutors’ decision to drop the charges and made it clear those prosecutors had not adequately explained to special prosecutors why they did so. However, Webb stressed he had reached no conclusions about whether anyone involved in the case had engaged in any wrongdoing.
The city has sued Smollett and is seeking reimbursement of more than $130,000 for overtime paid to officers who were involved in investigating Smollett’s report.
Smollett’s attorneys, however, said the city should not be allowed to recover costs from Smollett as it accepted $10,000 from the actor “as payment in full in connection with the dismissal of the charges against him.”
Smollett’s case has become an issue in Foxx’s bid for a second term.
Her opponents have pointed to the case as indicating she has bad judgment and favours the rich and powerful in deciding who will be prosecuted.