Chicago ends lawsuit vs Smollett for alleged hate crime hoax

CHICAGO - The administration of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has agreed to end the city's lawsuit against Jussie Smollett for allegedly lying to police and the public in 2019 about a racist and homophobic attack the black gay screen actor allegedly concocted and blamed on white supporters of President Donald Trump.

According to federal court documents, the city and Smollett reached a settlement in late April. On May 22, lawyers for the city and Smollett filed a motion with the court, indicating the two sides had completed the settlement and the city would be dismissing its legal action.

The terms of the settlement have not been formally disclosed in court records.

However, at the same time the lawsuit was dismissed, Smollett took to social media, posting a lengthy message in which he confirmed the settlement and disclosed some of the terms.

In the post on Instagram, Smollett said the settlement required him only to pay $50,000 in the form of a "donation" to the Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts. According to its website, the BBF Center, based in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, exists "to improve the quality of life for underprivileged youth and their families by providing safe, stable, and nurturing experiences that enhance social, emotional, academic, and career development."

The BBF Center has been in operation since 1961, according to its site.

Smollett in his Instagram post concerning the settlement asserted he selected the BBF Center to be the recipient of his "donation," saying he wished to support a "local nonprofit doing incredible work nurturing self-expression, creativity and exploration of the arts for Chicago youth.

"After repeatedly refusing to pay the City, I was presented with an opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the case being dismissed," Smollett wrote in his post.

"... Making a donation to benefit Chicago communities that are too often neglected by those in power will always be something I support ... This organization was of my choosing and I'm comforted that there will at least be one winner from this experience."

According to its website, the BBF Center is led by its president, Jasper Hagan, CEO of Full Court Marketing; executive vice president Marseil Jackson, CEO of Dream Center Chicago; a board of 24 other black Chicago business owners; and BBF Center's Executive Director Pamela Blackman.

According to past social media posts and public statements, Marseil Jackson in particular has been an outspoken political supporter of Mayor Johnson, including using a radio program he hosts to endorse Johnson's run for mayor and helping to throw a lavish birthday celebration for the mayor earlier this year. Jackson was one of three people to be mentioned specifically by name by the mayor on an Instagram post, thanking those who threw the party for him.

According to campaign finance records, a woman identified as Pamela Blackman, of Burr Ridge, also donated $500 to Johnson's campaign fund on March 31.

In his Instagram post, Smollett also indicated he donated an additional $10,000 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, an anti-police activist organization which claims a mission of seeking "to address the traumas of police violence and institutionalized racism through access to healing and wellness services, trauma-informed resources, and community connection."

The Chicago Torture Justice Center said it "supports a movement to end all forms of police violence."

In his post, Smollett stopped just short of claiming Chicago Police lied when they went public with their determinations that Smollett staged a hate crime, as he continued to maintain he was "innocent" in the affair and was a victim who has been "violated" by "arduous and expensive attempts to punish me."

Smollett's case has garnered public attention and outrage from the beginning.

In early 2019, Smollett took to the media with his claim that he was the victim of assault by white Trump supporters on a cold January night on the streets of Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood.

Smollett claimed his assailants had shouted at him that "This is MAGA country!" - referring to Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan - and had hung a noose around his neck, poured bleach on him and struck him.

Smollett asserted he was attacked for being black and gay.

Unquestioning sympathy and outrage quickly rose up throughout the country, particularly among Democratic opponents of the former president, who sought to blame Trump for the alleged attack on the actor, which was blamed on alleged racism and homophobia.

Foremost among those calling for "justice" for Smollett was then-California Sen. and future Vice President Kamala Harris, among other prominent Democratic politicians, media personalities and left-wing activists.

However, also among those who rushed to take up the calls of "Justice for Jussie" was Brandon Johnson, who was then a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. In a statement posted to the site then known as Twitter on Jan. 29, 2019, Johnson said: "I strongly condemn the racist and homophobic attack on (Smollett) in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood. Our nation will not go backwards in fear and hatred. May these hoodlums face the fullest extent of the law. I stand with him in the pursuit of justice!"

After days of such outcry, however, police and prosecutors instead accused the actor, notable for his role on the "Empire" television series, of faking the attack with the aid of two Nigerian brothers he knew.

Public outrage then shifted in a new direction when prosecutors under controversial former Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx shocked many by dropping 16 counts of disorderly conduct against Smollett in exchange for $10,000 and minimal "community service."

In response, at the urging of retired Judge Sheila O'Brien, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin reopened the case and appointed attorney Dan Webb as special prosecutor in August 2019 and to conduct an investigation of Foxx's handling of the case.

Toomin died in July 2023 of cancer at the age of 85. However, in 2020, Toomin, an accomplished veteran Democratic judge, managed to stave off a campaign launched by left-wing activists and allies of Foxx, including Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, to unseat him. Many believed the campaign was in retribution for his decision to appoint a special prosecutor.

Johnson is also a political ally of Foxx and Preckwinkle, who has praised Foxx's work as state's attorney, despite the blame heaped upon her for helping to fuel the crime wave that has swept Chicago from 2019 to today.

As special prosecutor, Webb secured a verdict in December 2021 from a Cook County jury, convicting Smollett of five disorderly conduct counts for filing a false police report.

Later in December, Toomin also released Webb's 60-page report on the case. In that report, Webb suggested Foxx and some top aides allegedly deceived the public about the case and about Foxx's involvement in initially allowing Smollett to walk.

In March 2022, Smollett was sentenced to 30 months of felony probation, including 150 days in Cook County Jail, and was ordered to pay $25,000 in fines and $120,106 in restitution. He remained out of jail on bond pending his appeal.

On appeal, Smollett's lawyers argued the special prosecution was illegal and politically motivated. He further argued the special prosecution was a violation of his constitutional rights.

After a divided state appeals panel sided with the special prosecution, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled 5-0 to vacate Smollett's conviction. In the ruling, the justices said they believed it would be "unjust" to allow Smollett's conviction to stand in light of a deal he struck with Foxx's team.

The court said the special prosecution, jury trial and conviction that followed amounted to violations of Smollett's right to due process.

Essentially, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Foxx was within her authority as state's attorney to drop the charges, if she wished, and no one else could change the outcome, regardless of any charges of corruption or incompetence by prosecutors.

In the ruling, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Rochford noted the court was "aware that this case has generated significant public interest and that many people were dissatisfied with the resolution of the original case and believed it to be unjust.

"Nevertheless, what would be more unjust than the resolution of any one criminal case would be a holding from this court that the State was not bound to honor agreements upon which people have detrimentally relied."

In his Instagram post, Smollett claimed the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling had "exonerated" him, even though neither the state Supreme Court nor any judges have ever backed his claims.

Smollett asserted he was "innocent in the eyes of God and our criminal justice system."

Following the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling, Mayor Johnson's administration appeared to move toward also ending the civil action that had begun under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and continued under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In the lawsuit, the city had claimed Smollett owed taxpayers more than $300,000 for costs Chicago Police had racked up fully investigating Smollett's incendiary claims. The city had sought to pursue Smollett under its Cost Recovery Ordinance, which gives the city the authority to demand up to three times the amount the city spent investigating the allegedly false claims, as well as court costs and attorney fees.

A federal judge swatted away Smollett's attempts to dismiss the lawsuit, noting the investigation was inescapably costly, given Smollett's celebrity status, because "most crime victims, for instance, do not have the opportunity to discuss the crime on 'Good Morning America.'"

The Johnson administration, however, apparently opted to abandon the lawsuit, agreeing to allow Smollett to walk away with his "donations."

Following dismissal of the lawsuit, the Chicago Department of Law issued a statement, saying: "The City believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward."