The Jussie Smollett drama is far from over.
The former “Empire” actor has been indicted by special prosecutor Dan Webb on six disorderly conduct charges on Tuesday (Feb. 11), WGN reports.
“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,” the office said in a statement Tuesday.
Smollett is currently facing a $130,000 lawsuit from the city of Chicago to cover the costs of the resources that police and prosecutors used to investigate Smollett’s alleged hate crime incident.
Back in January 2019, Smollett told police that he was attacked by two men who were wearing masks and using racist and homophobic slurs at him. The men allegedly wrapped a rope around his neck and poured bleach on him while he was walking to go get food at a local Subway restaurant. Smollett also said that the men were wearing red MAGA hats in reference to President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Initially, police were looking into the attack as a hate crime, but evidence surfaced that pointed to Smollett lying about the incident. Police were unable to locate any video evidence of the attack.
Police interviewed brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo as persons of interest, but police believe that Smollett paid the brothers to help him act out the incident to further his career. Ultimately, Smollett was arrested and charged for filing a false police report, but those charges were abruptly dropped in March 2019.
Smollett is due in court February 24. He has proclaimed his innocence throughout the entire investigation and is currently countersuing the city of Chicago. We will keep you updated with the latest.