Jussie Smollett
Empire actor, Jussie Smollett will be dragged to court by the City of Chicago for the wasted $130k police investigation into the fake hate attack orchestrated by him.
He was convicted of faking a racist and homophobic hate crime after he hired two Nigerian brothers to attack him in 2019.
The Chicago Police Department came to the conclusion to sue after more than two dozen cops spent weeks investigating the bogus story, logging 1,836 overtime hours in the process, a July 2019 legal filing said.
The city was faced with a $130,106.15 overtime tab and has since confirmed that it will press ahead with its lawsuit against Smollett to reclaim the cash. Their chances of a win or settlement are now all but guaranteed in the wake of the star’s conviction.
A lawsuit filed against Smollett’s legal team by the Nigeran brothers Smollett hired to attack him also stands.
It city said it’s going forward with the lawsuit following the 39-year-old actor’s conviction last week on five counts of disorderly conduct.
‘The City filed a civil lawsuit against Jussie Smollett to recover costs incurred by the Chicago Police Department investigating what the City believed to be Smollett’s false police reports that he was a victim of a hate crime,’ the statement said.
‘While using a different standard of proof, the jury’s finding of guilt convicting Jussie Smollett of criminal charges stemming from the incident confirms that the City was correct in bringing its civil lawsuit.’
Nigerian brothers, Abimbola ‘Abel’ Osundairo and Olabinjo ‘Ola’ Osundairo will also sue the convicted U.S. actor and his lawyers for defamation.
The Nigerians said the actor paid them $3,500 to stage the attack.
Their testimony was the basis of the decision of the Chicago jurors to convict Smollett last week.
The Nigerians had sued Smollett’s attorneys in April 2019, after the initial set of charges were dropped, claiming the case damaged their careers and reputations.
They claimed in the defamation lawsuit against lawyers Mark Geragos and Tina Glandian that they were maliciously portrayed as liars in the public.
Among the suggestions the lawyers made was that the brothers, who Smollett knew because he had enlisted them for personal training, might have been wearing white face when they attacked him on January 29.’
The brothers’ lawsuit said Glandian also inferred that Abel engaged in a sexual relationship with Smollett, and noted that homosexuality is illegal in the brothers’ home country.
‘Same-s3x sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria, which can result in 14 years of imprisonment,’ the lawsuit said. ‘If the accused is married, the punishment is death by stoning.
‘Ms. Glandian’s globally broadcasted statements that Bola Osundairo is homosexual endangers him and the lives of his Nigerian family.’