Smollett, who is black and gay, had told police in January that while he was walking in downtown Chicago to pick up food, he had been assaulted by two men who put a rope around his neck, poured a chemical substance on him and said it was “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan of Make America Great Again.
About a dozen detectives were assigned to the case. Smollett, who police said did not have serious injuries, received an outpouring of public support at a time when reported hate crimes were on the rise.
But last month, authorities revealed that they believed the assault was staged and that Smollett was upset with his salary for his work on the television series and wanted publicity.
Eddie T. Johnson, the Chicago police superintendent, said Smollett had taken advantage of the pain of racism and diverted resources away from other criminal investigations.
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“I just wish that the families of gun violence in this city got this much attention,” he said, referring to the media.
The indictments, felony counts that were dated Thursday, alleged that Smollett falsely reported batteries, aggravated batteries and hate crimes. It was not immediately clear what the maximum sentence he could face would be if he was convicted.
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment Friday night.
Mark Geragos, a lawyer for Smollett, said in a statement that the indictment was “prosecutorial overkill” and “redundant and vindictive.”
“Jussie adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption,” Geragos said.
Smollett posted bail in February and returned to the set of “Empire” in Chicago, where the show was being shot.
Police said Smollett paid two brothers $3,500 to carry out the assault. Prosecutors said they had video of the brothers at the scene and their testimony about how Smollett recruited them.
Police said surveillance footage showed the brothers taking a cab from the area of the reported assault. Investigators interviewed the cabdriver and identified the passengers as the brothers: Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo.
Both had worked as extras on “Empire.” Smollett has acknowledged that he had paid one of them to train him for a music video.
The men flew to Nigeria soon after the staged encounter, police said. When they returned to Chicago on Feb. 13, they were met by investigators and detained for two days, authorities said. After interviewing the brothers, police released them without charges.
Investigators had approached the case as a possible hate crime but had trouble finding evidence to match Smollett’s account. The attack was not visible on surveillance cameras.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.