Jussie Smollett Charged With Felony Disorderly Conduct for Allegedly False Attack Report

Empire actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with felony disorderly conduct after allegedly filing a false police report.

According to The Blast, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office filed the charges on Wednesday.

The charges reportedly come after Ola and Abel Osundairo testified in front of a grand jury for 2.5 hours, their attorney Gloria Schmidt tells the outlet. The Osundairo brothers were allegedly hired by Smollett to stage an attack on himself and pass it off as a hate crime. They were allegedly paid for their cooperation.

The news was made public by Anthony Guglielmi, the Chief Communications Officer for the Chicago P.D., on Twitter.

“Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report,” Guglielmi wrote. “Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest.”

A court hearing regarding Smollett’s bond is set for Thursday at 1:30 p.m. local time.

This development comes after Smollett was officially declared a suspect in the incident by Chicago police on Wednesday afternoon.

Smollett has not responded to the charges as of press time. He has also not turned himself in yet, hence Guglielmi’s note about negotiating “a reasonable surrender.”

When speculation began to mount that Smollett staged the attack, he denied the allegations in a statement through his lawyers last week.

“As a victim of a hate crime who has cooperated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” the attorneys wrote. “He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying. One of these purported suspects was Jussie’s personal trainer who he hired to ready him physically for a music video. It is impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussie’s complicity.

“Jussie and his attorneys anticipate being further updated by the Chicago Police Department on the status of the investigation and will continue to cooperate. At the present time, Jussie and his attorneys have no inclination to respond to ‘unnamed’ sources inside of the investigation, but will continue discussions through official channels.”

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