Jussie Smollett will be returning to court, with the City of Chicago filing a civil complaint against the “Empire” star to recoup $130,000 in costs incurred while investigating his allegedly “false claims” of being the victim of a late-night hate crime.
On Thursday, the City of Chicago Law Department filed a civil complaint against Smollett “that pursues the full measure of damages allowed under the false statements ordinance,” notes a statement from the department. “This follows his refusal to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019.”
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On March 28, the city sent Smollett a letter demanding he repay the $130,000 incurred when more than “two dozen detectives and police officers participated in the investigation, ultimately spending weeks investigating the false claims, including a substantial number of overtime hours.”
Smollett was given seven days to pay up, a window of time that has now closed.
Smollett, however, reacted defiantly, with his attorney, Mark Geragos, insisting in a statement that “Mr. Smollett will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum. Mr. Smollett vehemently denies making any false statements.”
Smollett’s attorneys have not yet responded to the complaint, while the City of Chicago and the Chicago Law Department stated they “will not have any further comment at this time.”
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Despite evidence indicating Smollett had faked the attack, all 16 charges against him were dropped and his record wiped clean in a controversial move that was criticized by then-Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who described the actor’s behaviour as “an abomination”: “He used the hate crime laws to advance his own career and he got caught. This is what is upsetting people in the city and around the country. He has one law, or standard of accountability, and everybody else gets another. That’s wrong.”