Jussie Smollett Faces Serious Charges
“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 16 felony counts after allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a hate, according to NBC News.
Smollett, 36, who is black and gay, was charged last month with felony disorderly conduct for the alleged false report he made with Chicago police on Jan. 29, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. The report claimed two masked men attacked Smollett and used racist and homophobic slurs on him.
Smollett and his attorney, Mark Geragos, have denied the allegations against him. In a statement to NBC News on Friday, Geragos said that the indictment was “the prosecutorial overkill.”
“This redundant and vindictive indictment is nothing more than a desperate attempt to make headlines in order to distract from the internal investigation launched to investigate the outrageous leaking of false information by the Chicago Police Department and the shameless and illegal invasion of Jussie’s privacy in tampering with his medical records,” Geragos said.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said after Smollett’s arrest that the actor “took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career.”
As the investigation continued, Johnson claimed that Smollett was unhappy with his salary on Fox’s “Empire” and Smollett sent himself a letter containing racist language, and when that did not work, he paid $3,500 to orchestrate the attack.
By: Maytinee Kramer
