Jussie Smollett Faces Lawsuit By Chicago, Could Cost Him "Empire" Role

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Actor Jussie Smollett speaks with members of the media after his court appearance at Leighton Courthouse on March 26, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois. This morning in court it was announced that all charges were dropped against the actor.
The City of Chicago demands Smollett compensate them $130K for the investigation.

 Jussie Smollett went from victim to suspect and now, he's somewhere in between. After weeks of claims by police saying that he staged his own attack, the actor had all charges against him dropped. Chicago Police and the mayor of Chicago were furious over the State's Attorney's decision to drop the charges, especially after the amount of money that was spent on the investigation. According to TMZ, the City of Chicago pressing Jussie Smollett to reimburse them for the $130K spent on the case.

The City of Chicago sent Smollett a demand letter for reimbursement of the $130K spent on police overtime to investigate the alleged hate crime but Smollett's folks are budging. The actor's legal team reportedly already rejected the letter, saying Smollett's the one who's owed an apology from the Mayor and the Chicago PD superintendent. Now, a source close to the mayor said that the City is ready to file a civil suit against Smollett. According to the law, the City of Chicago is allowed to collect three times the amount of the penalty which could mean roughly $390K.

If this goes to court, the alleged attack will be fully litigated and the judge will have to decide whether he staged his own attack or not. However, since its a criminal case, the judge will only have to determine whether it's likely that the actor staged his own attack.

Empire could have enough validation to fire Smollett if the judge finds that he faked his attack. Additionally, if Smollett loses the case and refuses to cough up the loot, the city could freeze his bank accounts and garnish wages including his salary from the show.


About The Author
Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years. Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021. Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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