The Noose is Tightening!

Jussie Smollett attack: Smollett charged with disorderly conduct for filing false police report, prosecutors say

[abc7chicago.com]

CHICAGO -- "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett has been charged with one count of felony disorderly conduct for filing a false police report, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office said Wednesday evening.

Smollett is due in court in Chicago at 1:30 p.m. Thursday. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said CPD detectives will make contact with Smollett's legal team to "negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest."

Smollett is not in custody at this time.

Guglielmi said CPD detectives presented evidence before a Cook County grand jury Wednesday. The grand jury returned an indictment shortly before 7 p.m.

Wednesday evening ABC7 Eyewitness News obtained surveillance video of the Osundairo brothers linked to the reported attack from a beauty supply shop. The video shows the brothers purchasing items possibly used in the case.

Employees at Beauty House in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood said the brothers came to the business the day before the alleged attack, and a security guard said he remembers the siblings because they purchased ski masks.

Chicago police confirmed the authenticity of the surveillance video, which shows the brothers purchasing numerous items, including a red ball cap, gloves, and ski masks.

Security guard Montago Silas said he was asked by the siblings if the store sold ski masks, but the business did not have the traditional balaclava-type mask; they only carried the kind with separate eyeholes. He thought it strange that they purchased them.

"It was bizarre because it was unusual for people to purchase these type of masks, not since the 70s, but I thought it was a little strange," Montago said.

The surveillance video also shows them leaving the store. They get into a silver-colored two-door coupe before driving away. Hours later, Smollett reported the alleged attack.

The attorney representing the Ousundairo brothers said her clients have been fully cooperating with the investigation and do not expect to be charged.

Smollett reported on Jan. 29 that he was attacked by two masked men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs at him, beat him, threw some type of chemical liquid on him, and looped a rope around his neck in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood.

Two days after the alleged attack, Chicago police released surveillance images of two people they said they considered persons of interest in the attack. The pair were later identified as brothers and brought in for questioning.

A law enforcement source said the brothers allege Smollett paid them to orchestrate and stage the attack. The brothers said Smollett was upset that the threatening letter sent to Empire's Chicago studios didn't get enough attention.

Detectives are actively investigating the allegation, but have not confirmed it to be true, the official said.

Wednesday Gugliemi confirmed prosecutors are speaking with Jussie Smollett's attorneys as part of their investigation into an alleged attack on the "Empire" actor.

Guglielmi said he could not confirm reports that half a dozen subpoenas seeking Smollett's cell phone and bank records have been issued.

"The only tool for detectives to be able to corroborate information is a search warrant and a subpoena. I am not at liberty to discuss the specifics, but it is not uncommon for any detective or law enforcement to subpoena records," Guglielmi said.

Over the weekend Chicago police said they were "eager" to re-interview Smollett after releasing the two brothers without charges.

The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating the letter, which was sent to the Chicago studio for "Empire" on Jan. 22, and whether Smollett played a role in sending the letter, two federal officials confirmed to ABC News. The letter is currently in the FBI crime lab for analysis, according to one of those sources.

Last week, Smollett sat down with Good Morning America's Robin Roberts and spoke about the letter.

"Just because on the letter, it had a stick figure hanging from a tree with a gun pointing towards it with the words that said, 'Smollett, Jussie, you will die, black (expletive),'" Smollett said. "There was no address, but the return address said in big, red, you know, like caps, 'MAGA.' Did I make that up too?"

After the police department investigated Smollett's attack for weeks as a possible hate crime, they discovered that one of the brothers bought the rope to be used in the attack at a local hardware store. The Chicago Sun-Times reports the store was the Crafty Beaver hardware store in Ravenswood.

ABC7 Eyewitness News learned Tuesday that Smollett pleaded no contest to DUI, driving without a license and providing false information to law enforcement in Los Angeles in 2007. He was sentenced to two years of probation and either spent three days in jail or paid a fine of $100 for the three misdemeanor charges, according to the LA city attorney's office, though it's unclear which option he chose.

If convicted of filing false police report, which is a felony in Illinois, Smollett could face up to three years in prison.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2019 01:53AM by Jennifer.

TABLES HAVE TURNED

‘Empire’ Actor Jussie Smollett Charged for Allegedly Filing False Police Report

Hours after a spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department said he’d become a suspect in their criminal investigation.

[www.thedailybeast.com]

Empire actor Jussie Smollett was charged with felony disorderly conduct Wednesday evening for allegedly filing a false police report claiming he was attacked in Chicago last month.

“Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report,” police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted Wednesday.

“Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest,” he added.

The charge was announced shortly after the Chicago Police Department revealed Smollett was now considered a “suspect” in their investigation into his hate-crime report.

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

Earlier Wednesday, Smollett’s lawyers met with Cook County prosecutors and police about the reported attack on the actor late last month, authorities confirmed to The Daily Beast Wednesday.

Smollett alleged that on Jan. 29, two men beat him up, put a rope around his neck, and poured an unknown chemical on him when he was walking home from a Subway sandwich shop around 2 a.m. The actor also alleged that he was called homophobic and racist slurs during the incident.

“I could only go off of their words. I mean, who says ‘Faggot Empire n*gger, this is MAGA country, n*gger,’ ties a noose around your neck, and pours bleach on you? And this is just a friendly fight?” Smollett said during an interview on Good Morning America last week.

Initially, police investigated the attack as a “possible hate crime,” but could not find video evidence of the incident.

The day after the attack, police released surveillance camera photos that identified two “potential persons of interests” that were eventually brought in and questioned. The two men, Ola and Abel Osundairo, were released Friday without charges, as questions began to swirl about Smollett’s account of the attack.

While being questioned, the brothers reportedly told police the Empire star paid them $3,500 to help stage the attack—and later reimbursed them for the rope. In a new surveillance video released Wednesday, the brothers appear to be seen buying a red hat and ski masks at a convenience store the day before the alleged assault.

“We are not racist. We are not homophobic, and we are not anti-Trump. We were born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens,” the brothers said in a statement over the weekend.

On Saturday, Guglielmi confirmed on Twitter the probe had “shifted” to whether the actor had paid the two brothers to stage the assault.

Jussie Smollett Charged With Faking His Own Assault

[www.nytimes.com]

Jussie Smollett, the “Empire” actor who said he was the victim of a hate crime, was indicted Wednesday night by an Illinois grand jury that found probable cause that he had actually staged the assault he reported to Chicago police in January.

Law enforcement officials said a grand jury had decided that Mr. Smollett falsely reported being attacked in a case that quickly drew national attention, and charged him with a felony count of disorderly conduct.

Mr. Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told the police that, while walking in downtown Chicago, he had been confronted by masked men who hurled homophobic and racial slurs at him, and announced it was “MAGA country,” a reference to President Trump’s campaign slogan.

But the change in thinking by investigators as the case progressed began to unleash criticism against the news media and politicians who many critics said were too quick to embrace a sketchy account in their drive to tarnish the president. It became a nightly topic on Fox News for Tucker Carlson, who called it a case of identity politics run amok. “Identity politics is a scam,” he said, “and it is not so different from the one that Jussie Smollett just pulled.”

Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor at National Review, said on Wednesday: “I think that the initial reaction suggested that there is a lot of credulity, especially among liberals who were looking at a story that seemed to confirm their impressions about Trump supporters.”

Mr. Smollett has continued to vehemently insist the incident occurred just as he reported it. A representative for him, Pamela Sharp, said that she was “aware of the news” but had no further comment.

From the start, investigators had difficulty corroborating Mr. Smollett’s story, even with about a dozen detectives assigned to the case.

No surveillance cameras caught the attack. There were no witnesses. He had not reported it from the scene, and when he got home was still wearing a noose that he said the perpetrators had placed around his neck.

Investigators, though, were able to track two men who appeared on video footage not far from the scene that night. Using ride share data, they discovered the two were brothers who in fact knew Mr. Smollett. One had acted as an extra on “Empire.”

The police initially identified the brothers as possible suspects in the attack, but then released them without filing any charges. The men had reportedly told investigators that Mr. Smollett had coordinated a faux attack and paid them to participate in it.

The brothers, Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, were brought in as witnesses to the grand jury Wednesday evening with their lawyer.

Filing a false police report in Illinois is technically referred to as disorderly conduct and can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. In Mr. Smollett’s case, the police said the grand jury had decided on a felony count, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

Mr. Smollett’s lawyers, Todd S. Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, have said their client denies the police account. “Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” they said in a statement Saturday.

It added: “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.”

Mr. Smollett’s possible motive in pursuing a plan the police now suspect him of drafting remains mysterious. Various theories have surfaced, one suggesting he might have been worried he was about to be relegated to a lower profile on “Empire,” perhaps being written out of the Fox series entirely. The network vehemently denied that was the case.

A week before the reported attack, Mr. Smollett said he had received a virulently racist and threatening anonymous letter containing a white powder, later determined to be harmless. The F.B.I. is investigating the letter but has declined to comment.

As Mr. Smollett first described the attack it occurred at 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. He said his assailants hit him in the face, bruising him, then poured a chemical substance on him as he walked back home along Lower East North Water Street, after a trip to buy a tuna sandwich. Mr. Smollett, in a follow-up interview with detectives, said the attackers had mentioned “MAGA country.”

Mr. Smollett’s manager, Brandon Moore, said he had been on the phone with Mr. Smollett and overheard part of the attack, a statement later confirmed by phone records released to the police.

Within days, the police released an image of two men they considered “potential persons of interest wanted for questioning.” Mr. Smollett would later say in an interview on “Good Morning America” that he was convinced the men in the pictures were his attackers.

“Because I was there,” Mr. Smollett said. “For me, when that was released, I was like, ‘O.K., we’re getting somewhere.’ I don’t have any doubt in my mind that that’s them. Never did.”

On Feb. 13, the investigators detained the Osundairos after they landed in Chicago on a flight from Nigeria where they had flown just after the reported incident. Police raided their home and, according to CBS Chicago, removed items including an “Empire” script, a ski mask, a red hat and a magazine.

Held for two days without being charged, the brothers, who have both acted and who train as bodybuilders, were reported to have ultimately provided investigators with an account that depicted them as pretend assailants in a bit of street theater intended to shake up public perceptions. Investigators came to believe that the rope used may have been bought by the brothers at the Crafty Beaver hardware store in the Ravenswood neighborhood on Chicago’s North Side.

Police scoured the area, recovering some videotape from neighboring stories in an apparent effort to corroborate the brothers’ account.

Public opinion, once so strongly behind Mr. Smollett, began to waver in recent days. Al Sharpton, for example, who was among the people who had initially condemned the reported attack, said that if the incident was shown to have been a hoax, those responsible “ought to face accountability to the maximum.”

In some ways the marked shift in opinion resembled the aftermath of last month’s incident in Washington where videos appeared to show high school students from Covington, Ky,. wearing “Make America Great Again” hats, engage in a standoff with an elderly Native American man. As more videos surfaced, the encounter appeared to have been more complicated. The students themselves had been subjected to ridicule by African-American protesters nearby and their defenders suggested they had been unfairly portrayed by a liberal media too quick to judge.

In the Smollett case, the Chicago police continued for weeks to assert that Mr. Smollett was considered a victim. But in recent days, the demeanor of investigators changed.

Where Jussie Smollett's career is going ...

So 5:00 am this morning Jussie Smollett surrendered to police -

Jussie Smollett Surrenders To Police

[www.dailywire.com]

In a stunning sequence of events that started when the investigation into an alleged "hate crime" attack took a dramatic turn over the last week, "Empire" star Jussie Smollett is now in police custody after surrendering himself just after 5 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Wednesday evening, the Chicago Police Department announced that the Cook County state's attorney's office officially charged the actor with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.

"Felony criminal charges have been approved by @CookCountySAO against Jussie Smollett for Disorderly Conduct / Filing a False Police Report," Chicago PD Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi announced on social media Wednesday. "Detectives will make contact with his legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest."

The charge is a Class 4 felony in Illinois and carries a potential of one to three years in prison.

Smollett's legal team responded with a statement stressing that their client is innocent until proven guilty and vowing to mount an "aggressive defense" of the actor. "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," they said. "Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."

Early Thursday morning, Smollett turned himself in. "Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that Smollett is in custody after surrendering to authorities after 5 a.m.," Chicago's ABC7 reports. "Police said they would conduct a news conference at 9 a.m. Smollett is expected to appear in bond court at 1:30 p.m. Thursday."

ABC notes that police said the actor-singer was accompanied by a female attorney and that "his lawyers Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson were not present at the time."

Smollett told police and the public that he had been viciously attacked by two white Trump supporters wearing masks and MAGA hats in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood at around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. The attackers, he claimed, assaulted him, threw a chemical on him, and put a noose around his neck while screaming racist and homophobic slurs and declaring "This is MAGA country!" The alleged attack occurred a week after Smollett reported receiving a threatening letter.

Last Wednesday, two "potential suspects" — Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, two American brothers of Nigerian descent who are associates of Smollett — were taken into police custody, but released on Friday without charges. On Saturday, police revealed that the two men were "fully cooperating" with police and that the trajectory of the investigation had shifted. They also announced that they wanted to speak with Smollett again.

The brothers say Smollett paid them to stage the attack. Police reportedly have evidence that the two men bought the rope used in the alleged hoax attack, which sources say they told police they purchased at Smollett's direction. On Wednesday, CBS Chicago provided video evidence that the two men bought the masks used in the incident.

After Smollett refused to go back in for questioning, a Grand Jury brought charges against him shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday night.

Along with accusations that he orchestrated the attack with the two brothers and filed a false police report, federal investigators are reportedly looking into the additional claim reportedly made by the Osundairo brothers that Smollett may have committed mail fraud by sending the threatening letter to himself.

Justice for Jussie!

Chicago police release Jussie Smollett’s mugshot

[pagesix.com]

Chicago police have released Jussie Smollett‘s mugshot hours after he was placed under arrest for allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a hate attack.

The 36-year-old “Empire” star is dressed in a black puffer jacket and looks weary in the photo.

He turned himself in to police around 5 a.m. local time Thursday.

A bail hearing is set for later in the afternoon.

Smollet, who is gay, claims he was the victim of a vicious assault Jan. 29 in which two attackers shouted racist and homophobic slurs, doused him in what he believed was bleach and threw a rope around his neck.