Jussie Smollett Indicted On New Charges For Phony 2019 Hate Crime

AllHipHop reports Empire actor, Jussie Smollett, was indicted Tuesday (Feb.11, 2020) for allegedly lying about being the victim of a phony hate crime. The City of Chicago says they spent over $130,000 in overtime hours pursuing the case originally reported in January 2019. According to reports this is the second time the 37-year actor has been indicted for the same crime.

Cook County Special Prosecutor Dan Webb and his team investigated for months only to conclude the crime was allegedly orchestrated by the star himself. They would indict Smollett on 16 counts in March 2019, and accused him of staging the bogus hate attack on himself for publicity. In addition, Jussie claimed MAGA hat-wearing white racist assaulted him outside of his Chicago, Illinois apartment. The actor alleged the attackers poured a chemical substance on him and then tied a noose around his neck, while yelling racial and homophobic slurs.

However, authorities debunked his claims after months of investigating. Smollett and discovered the 37-year old had allegedly hired two Nigerian brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to rough him up. Below is video footage of Chicago PD answering the initial 911 call at Smollett's apartment.

A grand jury indicted Smollett on six counts of disorderly conduct, charging him with filing false reports of a hate crime, according to documents filed Tuesday. The development came almost a year after prosecutors made the controversial decision to drop multiple felony counts against Smollett

Jussie was indicted on 16 counts, but a few days later all charges were dropped. With no explanation on March 26, 2019 the actor beat the case and turned around and filed suit against the City of Chicago for malicious prosecution in November 2019. In addition to denying he faked the attack, he accused Chicago authorities and blamed law enforcement for disseminating his character and image, with “false and misleading information."

The formal Empire start will be arraigned on the new charges on February 24, 2020, at 9:30 a.m., Central Time in the Circuit Court of Cook County.