May 3, 2025
The settlement comes six years after Chicago filed a lawsuit against Smollett .
Jussie Smollett has reached an undisclosed settlement with the city of Chicago six years after he was sued for allegedly staging a hate crime attack against himself.
On April 28, the city and Smollett told the court they had settled “but need more time to finalize documentation,” NBC News reports. Details on the settlement amount remain under wraps ahead of a status hearing set for May 29.
The settlement comes six years after Chicago filed a lawsuit against Smollett in April 2019, following his reports of being the target of a racist and homophobic attack in the city’s Streeterville neighborhood. Police and city officials later alleged that Smollett staged the hate crime himself.
Smollett was later sued for allegedly filing a false police report on Jan. 29, 2019, with the city claiming he knew the attackers, staged the incident, and owed $130,000 to cover the investigation costs. Smollett filed a countersuit denying he staged the attack or filed a false police report.
However, during his trial following an indictment for allegedly filing a false report, the two men involved testified that Smollett paid them $3,500 to carry out a staged attack as part of a scheme to gain public attention. Smollett maintained that the money was for personal training services and denied orchestrating the attack.
He also claimed that he didn’t call the police because, in his words, “as a Black man in America, I don’t trust the police—I’m sorry.”
Despite his defense, he was found guilty on five of six counts in December 2021 and sentenced in 2022 to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation. However, the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction in November, ruling that he should not have been prosecuted after reaching a nonprosecution agreement with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
RELATED CONTENT: Empire’s Jussie Smollett Heads To Public TV
