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Jussie Smollett ordered to pay Chicago PD $130,000 for 'staged attack' claims

Actor Jussie Smollett (Credit: AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
Actor Jussie Smollett (Credit: AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

City officials in Chicago have ordered Empire actor Jussie Smollett to pay $130,000 (around £100,000) back to the police department after he was accused of staging a racist attack on himself.

The case once again hit headlines earlier this week, when the charges against the actor were dropped.

Read more: Charges against Jussie Smollett are dropped

But now the city is saying that Smollett will have to pay to cover the overtime detectives in the CPD put in while investigating his claims.

In a letter to the actor and his legal representatives, officials said that if he refuses to pay, he could be fined and taken to court.

Smollett’s legal team, which maintain he is innocent, issued a statement against the claim, saying: “It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie – owe him an apology – for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough.”

Smollett was accused of filing a fake police report, after he claimed that he was assaulted near his home by two men in January.

He said that he was subjected to a beating, homophobic and racist abuse, and that the men left him with a noose tied around his neck.

Initially, Smollett was flooded with support from Hollywood stars and famous friends, however, it soon emerged that the two men he claimed attacked him were former extras on Empire, with police accusing him of paying them to stage the attack.

Read more: Jussie Smollett attack – what really happened?

Smollett was later arrested and charged with filming a false police report, and 16 counts of disorderly conduct.

But on March 26, all charges against him were unexpectedly dropped.

Rahm Emanuel, the mayor of Chicago, called it ‘a whitewash of justice’.

Donald Trump even weighed in on the argument, tweeting that the situation is ‘a national embarrassment’, and has called for the FBI and Department of Justice to further investigate the case.