Chicago police demand Jussie Smollett pay cost of investigation or lose Empire role

The city has sent a letter to the actor’s lawyers, asking that he pays $130k for the overtime hours detectives spent during the investigation.

Cook County State Attorney’s office on Tuesday, dropped all charges against Smollett who was said to have staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself.

A grand jury had indicted Smollett on 16 felony charges before the case was dropped in what prosecutors called “a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.” Earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump had tweeted that the FBI and the Department of Justice will “review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago.” “It is an embarrassment to our Nation!”

However, according to Chicago Tribune, Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel said he was going to try to force Smollett to pay for the cost of the investigation.

Smollett’s attorney, Mark Geragos later accused Emanuel of “acting literally unhinged” in his criticism of Smollett, adding that the case was flawed and was “going to become embarrassing.”

In the letter to Smollett’s attorneys by the City of Chicago and signed by Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel, the city said that it “may prosecute (Smollett) for making a false statement to the city.

“The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department take seriously those who make false statements to the police, thereby diverting resources from other investigations and undermining the criminal justice system,” the letter adds.

Emanuel, in a radio interview also says about the development: “It is a small way of both acknowledging, one, guilt, two, that we spent these resources, and the taxpayers deserve, at minimum… that actually we’re going to get the resources back.” Reacting to Emanuel’s statement, Smollett’s team said: “It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie … an apology — for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough.”

Cook County prosecutors had said Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond to the City of Chicago.

Here’s the thing though:

If Jussie pays the $130k, it may mean he admits guilt in a situation where he has previously denied any wrongdoing. However, Chicago police have threatened to go to a civil court to get the money if he refuses to pay in which case the judge has to find him guilty before ordering him to pay the $130k.

It’ll be interesting to see how the case turns out.