Jussie Smollett is being sued by the City of Chicago, after refusing to pay $130,000 in relation to allegations that he staged a hate crime on himself.
The ‘Empire’ actor was told last month he wouldn’t be charged over allegations he orchestrated a racist and homophobic attack on himself in January, but was met with more difficulties days later when he City of Chicago demanded he hand over the whopping sum to compensate for the overtime pay for police who investigated his case.
And after he refused to pay, the City has decided to file a lawsuit against him, which could see him face a trial for allegedly staging the attack.
According to TMZ, the City could ask for more than half a million dollars in payment from the lawsuit, which they are claiming will go toward helping recover the costs of investigating the case.
In the lawsuit, the City alleges that Jussie has been friends with one of his alleged attackers, Abel Osundairo, since 2017, and claims he contacted Abel shortly before the attack to ask him for "help on the low".
The lawsuit claims Jussie then set up the attack with Abel and his brother Ola, and the group agreed Abel would attack Jussie but would not hurt him too badly and would give Jussie a chance to appear to fight back.
The papers allege Jussie intentionally misled officers into believing his attackers were white, when he knew otherwise, and are accusing him of wasting police resources on investigating the alleged attack.
The City says the cost of investigating the case was at least $130,000 in overtime alone, but it wants hundreds of thousands of dollars on top of that to cover attorneys fees and additional expenses.
Recently, Jussie’s attorney Marc Geragos said he won’t be paying the city a penny, because he maintains his innocence in the alleged hate attack.
Marc said: "Mr. Smollett will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum. Mr. Smollett vehemently denies making any false statements."
When the City originally requested the payment, they demanded "immediate payment" within seven days, and said at the time that if the 36-year-old actor didn’t hand over the cash, the Corporation Counsel would "prosecute you for making a false statement under the Municipal Code of Chicago."
Jussie Smollett being sued by the City of Chicago
