Jussie Smollett has been “officially classified as a suspect in a criminal investigation,” according to a spokesperson with the Chicago Police Department. The “Empire” actor is accused of filing a false police report, which police say is a Class 4 felony.
“Detectives are currently presenting evidence” before a Cook County, Illinois, grand jury, according to a tweet from Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
Wednesday’s new development comes after Smollett’s attorneys met with prosecutors and detectives.
The 36-year-old actor, who is openly gay, plays a character on Fox’s hit drama, “Empire.” He told police he was attacked by two masked men in January when he was returning home from a Subway sandwich store early Jan. 29.
He claims the two men had beat him, said homophobic and racial slurs and put a looped rope around his neck before fleeing.
A source close to the investigation told CBS News on Feb. 16 two Nigerian brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo, revealed to detectives Smollett paid them to participate in the attack. They said the rope that was found around Smollett’s neck was purchased at a nearby hardware store. A raid of their home turned up ropes, masks and bleach.
Chicago police said that information had “shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” and prompted another interview with Smollett. The actor’s attorneys said he was “angered and devastated” by reports that he knew the alleged attackers, and that one of the men was Smollett’s personal trainer. Ola Osundairo had played a prisoner in a season of “Empire.”
On Feb. 19, in a statement to CBS Chicago, the brothers said: “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.”
This is a breaking story. Please check back for latest updates. Jason Silverstein contributed to this report.
