Empire actor Jussie Smollett officially classified as a suspect

The move comes weeks after the Empire actor told Chicago police he was attacked on 29th January by two men who threw a bleach-like chemical on him, called him anti-gay slurs, and put a rope around his neck.

Giving a status update on the case, Chicago Police spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi tweets:

“Jussie Smollett is now officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation by #ChicagoPolice for filing a false police report (Class 4 felony). Detectives are currently presenting evidence before a Cook County Grand Jury”.

Jussie Smollett was subsequently indicted by the grand jury in Chicago for a felony after staging his own attack.

A Cook County Grand Jury handed down the indictment on Wednesday, 20th February, after going through all the testimonies and evidence. According to TMZ, the two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo told the jury that they staged the so-called “attack” at Jussie’s behest and even got paid for it.

Smollett has maintained that he was the victim of a hate crime, and the reported attack quickly received global attention, putting immediate pressure on Chicago police to solve the case leading to the interrogation and arrest of two Nigerian brothers who have since been released by the police after no evidence was found linking them to the crime.

Jussie’s attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, released the following statement: “Like any other citizen, Mr Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence, particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. 

“Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defence.”