Crime & Safety
Jussie Smollett To Pay $50,000 To Charity To Settle Lawsuit Filed By City Of Chicago
Smollett filed a countersuit against the city for malicious prosecution, maintaining the attack was real.
Updated on: May 23, 2025
Former "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett has agreed to pay $50,000 to a Chicago charity to settle a lawsuit the city filed against him, seeking restitution for the cost of investigating his claims he was the victim of a hate crime, which police determined was a hoax.
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Smollett was convicted in 2021 on charges accusing him of staging a racist and homophobic hate crime against himself in 2019 near his Streeterville apartment. His conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court last year on double jeopardy grounds.
The city sued Smollett two months after his arrest, seeking to have him reimburse the city more than $130,000 for the cost of the Chicago Police Department probe that determined his claims were a hoax.
