City of Chicago Goes After Smollett with Lawsuit Over Investigation Costs
The city of Chicago sued “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett on Thursday seeking payment in the costs incurred in investigating his alleged January hate crime attack.
The city’s legal department said in a statement to Fox News that it filed a civil complaint with the Circuit Court of Cook County “that pursues the full measure of damages allowed under the false statements ordinance.”
The complaint specifies: “This action is brought by the City to recover civil penalties, statutory treble damages, and attorney’s fees and costs arising from Defendant’s false statements to the City. On January 29, 2019, Defendant submitted a false report claiming that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic beating by unknown attackers.
“In reality, Defendant knew his attackers and orchestrated the purported attack himself.”
Last month, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson expressed their disapproval of the decision by Cook County State’s Attorney’s office to drop all 16 charges against Smollett.
In the agreement reached, Smollett was required to forfeit his $10,000 bail bond and perform community service.
Emanuel said the $10,000 did not even come close to paying the cost to the city of investigating the television star’s alleged hate crime attack.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the city’s lawsuit against Smollett comes after he failed to respond by a deadline communicated in a March 28 letter calling for him to pay $130,106 to cover the costs of police overtime hours spent investigating his allegations.
According to the city’s court filing, Chicago police officers and detectives worked a combined 1,836 hours of overtime over at least two two weeks investigating Smollett’s claims.
The city’s lawsuit did not placea dollar figure on the damages it is seeking, but based on the categories of damages listed, it will likely be more than the $130,000 in overtime hours it previously sought.
Smollett’s attorney, Mark Geragos, sent a defiant letter to the city last week, stating that his client “will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum” for the overtime hours.
“As you know, Mr. Smollett vehemently denies making any false statements to the City of Chicago,” Geragos added. “All criminal charges against Mr. Smollett from this incident have been dismissed and his record has been sealed.
“Thus your claim that Mr. Smollett filed a false police report and orchestrated his own attack is false and defamatory.”
The Chicago Police Department file on Smollett reportedly includes significant video and documentary evidence showing that the actor’s alleged hate crime was staged.
When First Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Magats announced the agreement reached with Smollett to drop the charges last month he told reporters the decision was not an “exoneration.”
The prosecutor further stated that he believed the celebrity filed a false police report, based on the facts uncovered by investigators.
State’s Attorney Foxx also told NPR last month that the decision not to take Smollett’s case to trial for filing a false police report was a matter of prosecutorial discretion.
“You know, I think that there is a lot of confusion,” she said. “For people who do this work every day, who recognize what the charges are — this is a Class 4 felony — we recognize that the likelihood that someone would get a prison sentence for a Class 4 felony is slim.”
She, like Magats, contended that Smollett being forced to forfeit $10,000 and engage in community service was the way her office chose to hold him accountable.
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