What to Know
- All criminal charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett were dropped earlier this year
- Prosecutors said despite dropping the charges that they "did not exonerate" Smollett. Still, the actor has maintained his innocence.
- Smollett completed community service and forfeited his $10,000 bond to the city, prosecutors said
The city of Chicago has responded to a motion from "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett which seeks to dismiss a lawsuit that the city filed in April.
Smollett has refused to pay more than $130,000 to reimburse the city of Chicago for investigative costs. The city seeks funds for investigating what officials say was a phony racist, anti-gay attack that Smollett staged.
In a response filed Monday in U.S. District Court, the city said the Chicago Police Department incurred "commensurate costs" after Smollett filed a police report.
"The CPD investigation and commensurate costs were therefore the natural and foreseeable result of Defendant’s claim that he was the victim of a heinous hate crime," the ruling stated.
In March, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel's law chief sent Smollett a letter demanding he pay $130,106 — plus 15 cents — within seven days.
A special prosecutor was named on Aug. 23 to investigate the alleged hoax.
Cook County Judge Michael Toomin tapped former federal prosecutor Dan Webb for the position after ruling in June, based on a petition from a retired judge, that one was necessary in the case.
Webb is the former U.S. attorney who led the "Operation Greylord" investigations into judicial corruption in Cook County, and is currently the co-executive chairman of Winston & Strawn LLP, according to his bio on the law firm's website.
The office of Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx charged Smollett in February with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for purportedly orchestrating the incident the previous month.
A month later, prosecutors dropped all charges with little explanation.
