Jussie Smollett Charges Dropped In Criminal Case Over Allegedly Faked Attack

Jussie Smollett is no longer at risk of facing prosecution over allegations that he had faked an attack on himself because all of the charges have been dropped. Smollett was originally facing 16 felony counts of lying to police, according to TMZ.

As previously reported by The Inquisitr, actor Jussie Smollett, best known for his recurring role on the hit TV series Empire, claimed that he was the victim of a homophobic and racist attack. In late January, Smollett was taken to a Chicago hospital and claimed that he was jumped by two men, who physically attacked him, put a noose around his neck, and splashed an unidentified substance in his face.

Smollett also alleged that the unidentified attackers — whom he claimed wore ski masks — called him racial and homophobic slurs, and told him “This is MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

However, in the weeks following the alleged attack, the Chicago Police Department began to unravel Smollett’s story and came to the conclusion that Jussie had staged the attack. The two attackers, brothers Abimbola “Abel” and Olabinjo “Ola” Osundairo, had been paid by Smollet to carry out the assault. Jussie had known the brothers prior to the incident — one of them had worked on the set of Empire, and the other had previously worked as Smollett’s personal trainer.

#????????: All Charges Against Jussie Smollett Have Been ??????? https://t.co/New28g5Qu5

— TMZ (@TMZ) March 26, 2019

As TMZ noted, all of the charges against Jussie Smollet have been dropped. The actor will not serve any jail time, though he will surrender his $10,000 bond.

Per TMZ’s report, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx told Chicago law enforcement that she dropped the charges against Smollett, as he would have only received community service if he was found guilty. Seeing as how he has already performed community service, Foxx felt that any attempts to prosecute him would have been pointless.

Smollet’s lawyers released a statement earlier today in regards to the decision to drop all charges.

“Today, all criminal charges against Jussie Smollett were dropped and his record has been wiped clean of the filing of this tragic complaint against him,” Smollett’s lawyers said. “Jussie was attacked by 2 people he was unable to identify on January 29th. He was a victim who was vilified and made to appear as a perpetrator as a result of false and inappropriate remarks made to the public, causing an inappropriate rush to judgment.”

An unnamed source close to Smollett also claims that the prosecution’s case began to fall apart. As previously reported by TMZ, the $3,500 check that Jussie used to pay the Osundairo brothers seems to have been for physical training, as opposed to payment for staging the attack.