The case between Jussie Smollett and City of Chicago may be far from over as the city has sent a letter the actor’s lawyers that he pays $130k for the overtime hours detectives used during investigation.
Cook County State Attorney’s office on Tuesday, dropped all charges against Smollett who was said to have staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself.
A grand jury had indicted Smollett on 16 felony charges before the case was dropped in what prosecutors called “a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case.”
Earlier on Thursday, President Donald Trump had tweeted that the FBI and the Department of Justice will “review the outrageous Jussie Smollett case in Chicago.”
“It is an embarrassment to our Nation!” POTUS added.
Later on, according to Chicago Tribune, Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel said he was going to try to force Smollett to pay for the cost of investigation.
Smollett’s attorney, Mark Geragos later accused Emanuel of “acting literally unhinged” in his criticism of Smollett, adding that the case was flawed and was “going to become embarrassing.”
In the letter to Smollett’s attorneys by the City of Chicago and signed by Corporation Counsel Ed Siskel, the city said that it “may prosecute (Smollett) for making a false statement to the city.”
“The City of Chicago and the Chicago Police Department take seriously those who make false statements to the police, thereby diverting resources from other investigations and undermining the criminal justice system,” the letter added.
Emanuel, in a radio interview also said about the the development: “It is a small way of both acknowledging, one, guilt, two, that we spent these resources, and the taxpayers deserve, at minimum … that actually we’re going to get the resources back.”
Reacting to Emanuel’s statement, Smollett’s team said: “It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie … an apology — for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough.”
Cook County prosecutors had said Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond to the City of Chicago.