A new chapter in the “Jussie Smollett Hoax” saga will soon unfold in court after today’s revelation that a federal judge denied the former Empire star’s motion to dismiss the City of Chicago’s $130,000 USD lawsuit filed against him.
A federal judge refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the City of Chicago against actor Jussie Smollett, court documents showhttps://t.co/0haztKfWBg pic.twitter.com/FLDDxDRYQJ
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) October 22, 2019
CNN reports that US District Judge Virginia Kendall denied Smollett’s request to dismiss the lawsuit earlier today (October 22). From here, the investigation will now go into discovery and allow Chicago PD to start compiling the previously reported “mountain of evidence” that points to the whole ordeal being staged.
As you may already know, Smollett originally claimed to be a victim of a hate crime in Chicago this past January due to his status as both a Black and gay man. Unfortunately, soon after the investigation into his alleged attack went underway, the Chicago Police Department discovered countless pieces to the puzzle that ultimately made them believe that Jussie orchestrated the whole attack himself with help from two associates, brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, in order to advance his career through public sympathy. Although Smollett was then indicted on 16 felony counts, prosecutors surprisingly dropped all charges weeks later.
One of Smollett’s attorneys, William J. Quinlan, had this to say in an official statement regarding the judge’s decision, via CNN:
“Mr. Smollett has always maintained his innocence and is eager to have the complete facts of the case come out. He looks forward to taking depositions and otherwise bringing to light many of the facts that have been overlooked in the court of public opinion to date. Mr. Smollett is confident that once the full story is available he will be vindicated.”
Back in August, Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Toomin appointed former US Attorney Dan Webb to do a special investigation into how local prosecutors handled the case. If he believes there was any form of crime committed throughout the course of the investigation, he has legal rights to pursue new charges against Jussie Smollett.
We’ll do our best to keep you all updated on this case with the most recent information. Let us know how you think it’ll all end by sounding off over on our Facebook and Twitter!
