Former ‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett Charged Again For Making False Reports To Police

Former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was handed down a six-count indictment Tuesday by a Cook County grand jury for making false reports to Chicago police a year ago that he fell prey to hate crime, a special prosecutor said.

Smollett, a black and gay, told police that two men attacked him and yelled racial and homophobic slurs near his Chicago apartment on Jan. 29, 2019 where he was staying while shooting for the hit TV show. Chicago police investigated the case as hate crime and later said that the actor staged the attack publicly because he found his “Empire” remuneration inadequate. Smollett roped in the brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, who were his acquaintances from the TV show, to falsely attack him in exchange for money.

Smollett, 37, was charged last February with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police and the show removed him from its cast following his arrest. Smollett pleaded not guilty to the charges and they were eventually dropped in March.

Back then, prosecutors said Smollett forfeiting the 10% of his bail $100,000 bond and preemptively completing community service were the reasons why the charges were dropped, ABC News reported.

Special prosecutor Dan K Webb was assigned to handle the case in August on the grounds that the local prosecutor had failed to give it a proper closure earlier.

"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," per the statement.