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In the wake of six new felony criminal charges against him, Jussie Smollett is fighting legal battles on two fronts as the city of Chicago is expected to continue its lawsuit to recover the cost of the investigation.
The former “Empire” actor, 37, was indicted by a grand jury on six counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about a racist and homophobic attack against him in January 2019. He is already facing a civil case brought on by the city of Chicago that seeks to have the actor reimburse the department for the $130,000 spent on investigating the alleged attack as well as other costs that reportedly total close to half a million.
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In a statement to Fox News, the City of Chicago's Law Department said the city has no intention of dropping its civil case in the wake of the renewed criminal charges against Smollett.
“We look forward to reviewing the indictment and, as we have said previously, the City stands by our original complaint seeking to recover costs for Mr. Smollett’s false statements," the statement reads. "We again thank the Chicago Police Department detectives for their hard work on the original investigation.”
Jussie Smollett now has six new charges against him connected to his alleged hate crime attack in January 2019. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
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Smollett, who is black and gay, originally was charged last year with disorderly conduct for allegedly staging the hate crime attack with brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who worked on “Empire” with Smollett.
In January 2019, Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at approximately 2 a.m. The actor alleged that the masked men taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing.
Actor Jussie Smollett is still facing a civil lawsuit from the city of Chicago. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
He said his attackers, at least one of whom he said was white, told him he was in "MAGA country" — a reference to President Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."
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The brothers are expected to testify that the incident was a hoax masterminded by Smollett.
Fox News' Matt Finn and Mariah Haas contributed to this report.
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