Special prosecutor Dan Webb has indicted actor Jussie Smollett in connection with a hate crime hoax that he was accused of staging last January.
“The Cook County Clerk’s Office confirmed Tuesday that special prosecutor Dan Webb has indicted former ‘Empire’ actor Jussie Smollett in connection with the alleged attack,” ABC 7 reported. “Smollett had been charged with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about the alleged attack, which police say Smollett staged on himself because he was unhappy with his ‘Empire’ salary.”
Fox 4 noted that prosecutors had insisted last year that “Smollett faked the racist, anti-gay attack on himself in the hopes that the attention would advance his acting career.”
“But with little explanation, authorities in March of 2019 abruptly dropped all charges against Smollett, abandoning the criminal case only five weeks after the allegations were filed. In return, prosecutors said, the actor agreed to let the city keep his $10,000 in bail,” Fox 4 added. “The dismissal drew a swift backlash from the mayor and police chief and raised questions about why Smollett was not forced to admit what prosecutors had said they could prove in court – that the entire episode was a publicity stunt.”
The development comes after a Cook County judge recently ordered Google to turn over nearly all of Smollett’s data from the last year.
“The warrants, filed last month in Circuit Court, sought a trove of documentation from Smollett and his manager’s Google accounts — not just emails but also drafted and deleted messages; any files in their Google Drive cloud storage services; any Google Voice texts, calls and contacts; search and web browsing history; and location data,” The Chicago Tribune reported. “Authorities could be looking for any incriminating remarks from Smollett or his manager, especially in the months after State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office abruptly dismissed disorderly conduct charges against the then-‘Empire’ actor just weeks after his indictment.”
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via The Daily Wire
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