“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 16 felony counts after allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime, NBC News confirmed Friday.
Smollett was charged last month with felony disorderly conduct for the alleged false report he made with Chicago police on Jan. 29, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. In it he claimed he was assaulted by two masked men who hurled racist and homophobic slurs.
Smollett was charged by a grand jury of 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for making a false report, according to a criminal complaint.
Smollett and his attorneys have denied the allegations against him. Mark Gergaos, who represents Smollett, told Access Hollywood on Friday that “we will push back against them.”
“The way that this has played out, there was a motivation to do damage to him, and we’ll prove that,” Gergaos said.
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