Empire actor, Jussie Smollet is maintaining his innocence and is asking a judge to dismiss the $130,000 lawsuit filed by the City of Chicago following his alleged attack.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Smollett is demanding the case filed by the city seeking $130,000 be dismissed.The actor says his story has never changed and he maintains his innocence, pointing to his criminal charges being dropped.
Smollett says this lawsuit, “appears to be an unprecedented effort to seek penalties and resources expended in connection with allegedly false statements made to the police where the related criminal case concerning the statements was dismissed nolle pros on all counts.”
He also calls into question the amount they are seeking, “Both claims fail to state sufficient factual allegations to support a reasonable inference that Defendant’s allegedly false statements caused the CPD 1,836 overtime hours and the City paying $130,106.15 in overtime pay.”
Back in April, the city of Chicago sued the actor for the cost of investigating his allegations that he was a victim of a racist and anti-gay attack in downtown Chicago. The authorities said they believe the alleged attack was staged by the “Empire” actor as a publicity stunt.
In the complaint, the city wrote, “On January 29, 2019, Defendant submitted a false police report claiming that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic beating by unknown attackers,” the lawsuit states.
“In reality, Defendant knew his attackers and orchestrated the purported attack himself.
Later, when police confronted him with evidence about his attackers, he still refused to disclose his involvement in planning the attack.
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The city asked for $130,106.15 for the investigation, plus $1,000 “for each false statement he made” to police.
They also believe they are entitled to three times its total damages, so Smollett could be on the hook for nearly half a million dollars.
