What was Jussie Smollett accused of?
The Empire actor was accused of paying brothers Ola and Abel Osundairo to stage a hoax racist attack on him to get attention.
On March 14, 2019, a Cook County grand jury gave charges for each time the actor “knowingly” told police he was the victim of “battery, a hate crime, and an aggravated battery,” amounting at the time to 16 counts.
After pleading not guilty, the charges alleging Smollett lied to police were dropped, according to his lawyers.
The following month, in April of 2019, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Smollett seeking payment for the cost of the investigation.
On April 23, 2019, the two brothers accused of attacking Smollett filed a defamation lawsuit against his attorneys.
In February of 2020, the grand jury returned a six-count indictment against Smollett, once again accusing him of lying to police.
Smollett pleaded not guilty.
