Jussie Smollett Case: Conviction, Reversal, and Settlement

The Jussie Smollett case began with a January 2019 report of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago, turned into a felony prosecution after police concluded the actor had staged the incident, produced a conviction and a jail sentence in 2022, and ended with the Illinois Supreme Court reversing that conviction in November 2024 on the ground that prosecutors had broken an earlier deal. A civil settlement with the City of Chicago in May 2025 closed the last open piece of the matter, more than six years after the reported attack.¹

What Smollett Reported in January 2019

In the early hours of January 29, 2019, Smollett told Chicago police that two masked men attacked him near his apartment in the Streeterville neighborhood. He said they used racial and homophobic slurs, poured a chemical substance on him, looped a rope around his neck, and shouted “This is MAGA country.”¹ Smollett, then a cast member on the Fox drama Empire, reported the incident about 40 minutes later through a close associate. The Chicago Police Department initially investigated it as a possible hate crime.²

A week earlier, on January 22, a threatening letter containing homophobic language and a white powder had been sent to Smollett at the Empire studio in Chicago. The powder was later identified as a crushed, legal painkiller.³ The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the letter but closed their inquiries without filing charges, with postal investigators concluding the mailing location could not be determined and that no actual powder had been sent with the letter.⁴

How the Investigation Turned

Detectives reviewed area surveillance footage but never found images of the attack itself.² On February 13, police arrested brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo at O’Hare Airport as they returned from Nigeria. Abimbola had worked as a stand-in on the Empire set and served as Smollett’s personal trainer.⁵

The brothers were released without charges on February 16, and within a day, sources indicated they had begun cooperating with investigators. They told police Smollett paid them $3,500 to stage the attack because he was unhappy with the response to the earlier threatening letter and dissatisfied with his salary on Empire. On February 20, prosecutors charged Smollett with a Class 4 felony for disorderly conduct based on filing a false police report. He turned himself in the next day. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie T. Johnson said at a press conference that Smollett had staged the incident to promote his career.⁵

Two days after his arrest, the producers of Empire removed Smollett’s character from the final two episodes of the show’s fifth season, saying the decision was made “to avoid further disruption on set.”⁶

The First Charges and the Dismissal

On March 8, 2019, a Cook County grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct. Prosecutors alleged he had orchestrated the staged attack, paid the Osundairo brothers, and sent himself the threatening letter.¹

Then, on March 26, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office dropped all 16 counts at an emergency hearing. Under the terms of the deal, Smollett forfeited his $10,000 bond and performed community service. He was not required to admit guilt. First Assistant State’s Attorney Joe Magats said publicly that the office still believed Smollett had filed a false report.⁵

The decision drew fierce backlash. Then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel called it “a whitewash of justice.”⁷ Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx had recused herself weeks earlier after communicating with a relative of Smollett at the behest of Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to Michelle Obama. Text messages later showed Foxx continued to monitor and comment on the case after stepping aside.⁸

The Special Prosecutor and Re-Indictment

Retired Illinois appellate judge Sheila O’Brien petitioned for an independent investigation. In June 2019, Cook County Judge Michael Toomin granted the petition, citing “unprecedented irregularities” in the case’s handling. On August 23, 2019, Toomin appointed Dan K. Webb, a former U.S. Attorney, as special prosecutor.⁹

Webb’s 60-page report concluded that Foxx’s office committed “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” in dismissing the original charges. The report found no evidence of criminal conduct or outside influence behind the decision but documented a pattern of misleading public statements, including Foxx’s public description of the case as “shaky” despite no change in the evidence since indictment.¹⁰

On February 11, 2020, a Cook County grand jury returned a new six-count indictment charging Smollett with making four separate false reports to Chicago police. Webb said further prosecution was “in the interest of justice.”¹¹

The Trial and Conviction

The case went to trial in December 2021. The prosecution’s case rested heavily on the testimony of the Osundairo brothers, who told the jury that Smollett recruited them to stage the attack so it would be captured on a nearby surveillance camera. According to their testimony, Smollett provided lines for them to shout, gave them $100 to buy supplies, and later paid them $3,500 by check.¹² Olabinjo Osundairo testified that he substituted bleach for gasoline because he considered gasoline too dangerous.¹³ Abimbola testified he participated because he felt indebted to Smollett for helping his acting career.¹⁴

Smollett took the stand in his own defense, maintaining he was attacked by strangers and insisting the $3,500 check was for training and nutrition advice.¹⁵ His defense argued the brothers staged the attack on their own, motivated by homophobia or a desire to extort him.¹²

On December 9, 2021, the jury found Smollett guilty on five of the six counts of disorderly conduct. He was acquitted on one count.¹²

The Sentence

On March 10, 2022, Cook County Judge James Linn sentenced Smollett to 30 months of felony probation, with the first 150 days to be served in Cook County Jail. He was also ordered to pay $120,106 in restitution to the city of Chicago and a $25,000 fine.¹⁶

Judge Linn called Smollett a “charlatan pretending to be a victim of a hate crime” who had drained police resources from real victims and “committed hour upon hour upon hour of perjury” during his testimony.¹⁷ Smollett stood up in the courtroom and declared his innocence.¹⁸

Six days later, an Illinois appellate court ordered Smollett released from jail pending appeal in a 2-1 decision, granting a $150,000 personal recognizance bond.¹⁹

The Illinois Supreme Court Reversal

Smollett’s central appellate argument was that the original March 2019 deal constituted a binding nonprosecution agreement, so recharging him was fundamentally unfair. In December 2023, a three-judge appellate panel upheld the conviction 2-1. The majority found the initial dismissal did not carry finality because no formal nonprosecution agreement existed.²⁰

On November 21, 2024, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously reversed the conviction. Writing for the court, Justice Elizabeth Rochford held that the March 2019 arrangement was a binding bilateral agreement, not a simple unilateral dismissal. Because Smollett had performed his side of the bargain by forfeiting his bond and completing community service, the state was constitutionally required to honor its end.⁷

The court applied contract law principles to the criminal context, reasoning that while a nolle prosequi is ordinarily not a final disposition, it becomes one when entered as part of a negotiated exchange that the defendant has already fulfilled. The court found it “fundamentally unfair” for the state to renege on its deal simply because the resolution was unpopular.²¹ Justice Rochford wrote: “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.”⁷

The ruling did not address the underlying facts or the trial evidence. Webb noted that the court “did not find any error with the overwhelming evidence presented at trial” and that the reversal was based solely on the breach of the original agreement.⁷

The Civil Settlement With Chicago

In April 2019, the City of Chicago filed a civil lawsuit against Smollett seeking to recover approximately $130,000 in police overtime costs from the investigation. Smollett countersued, alleging malicious prosecution and bad faith.²²

In May 2025, the parties settled. Smollett agreed to make a $50,000 donation to the BBF Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, a North Lawndale nonprofit, and a $10,000 donation to the Chicago Torture Justice Center. In exchange, the city’s lawsuit was dismissed.²³ The Chicago Department of Law called it a “fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution.”²⁴ Smollett maintained his innocence, stating in a public comment that “this organization was of my choosing and I’m comforted that there will be at least one winner from this experience.”²⁵

Where Things Stand

With his criminal record cleared and the civil case resolved, Smollett has returned to public work. He was cast on Season 4 of Fox’s reality competition series Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test, set to premiere September 25, 2025, more than six years after leaving Empire.²⁶ A Netflix documentary, The Truth About Jussie Smollett?, directed by Gagan Rehill, was released August 22, 2025.²⁷ Smollett continues to deny that the 2019 attack was staged.

1
NBC Chicago. Timeline: How the Jussie Smollett Saga Unfolded Over Nearly Six Years
2
The New York Times. Jussie Smollett Timeline
3
NBC News. Why Charges Against Jussie Smollett Are Considered a Felony
4
WGN-TV. Postal Inspection Service Closes Case Into Jussie Smollett’s Alleged Hate Mail
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ABC News. Timeline of the Alleged Jussie Smollett Attack
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The New York Times. Empire Removes Jussie Smollett From Final Episodes
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PBS NewsHour. Court Overturns Jussie Smollett’s Conviction on Charges He Staged Attack on Himself
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ABC News. State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s Texts About Smollett Case
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WTTW News. Veteran Litigator Dan Webb Appointed Special Prosecutor in Jussie Smollett Case
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Chicago Sun-Times. Jussie Smollett Special Prosecutor Report Released
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CNN. Jussie Smollett Indicted on New Charges
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WTTW News. Jussie Smollett Convicted of Staging Attack, Lying to Police
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Courthouse News. Osundairo Brothers Testify Jussie Smollett Asked Them to Beat Him Up
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PBS NewsHour. Second Brother Testifies Jussie Smollett Paid for Staged Attack
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CBS News Chicago. Jussie Smollett Returns to Witness Stand
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PBS NewsHour. Actor Jussie Smollett Sentenced to 150 Days in Jail for Lying About Staged Hate Attack
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ABC 7 Chicago. Jussie Smollett Sentencing
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CNN. Jussie Smollett Sentencing Trial
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WHYY. Court Orders Jussie Smollett Release From Jail During Appeal
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Courthouse News. Jussie Smollett Takes His Case to Illinois Supreme Court
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Illinois Supreme Court. People v. Smollett, 2024 IL 130431
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ABC 7 Chicago. Jussie Smollett Speaks After Reaching Civil Settlement With City of Chicago
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WTTW News. Jussie Smollett Agrees to Make $50K Charitable Donation to Resolve City of Chicago Lawsuit
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CBS News Chicago. Jussie Smollett Settlement: $50,000 Charity Donation to Resolve Chicago Lawsuit
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ABC 7 Chicago. Jussie Smollett to Pay $50K to Charity in Settlement With City of Chicago
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The Hollywood Reporter. Jussie Smollett Joins Fox’s Special Forces Season 4
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Variety. The Truth About Jussie Smollett Documentary