A defiant letter by Jussie Smollett‘s lawyers warned the city against suing him for police overtime costs in investigating his allegedly staged attack, saying the “Empire” actor “will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum.”
The letter from celebrity attorney Mark Geragos — obtained by the Tribune — went on to caution that Smollett’s legal team would insist on questioning Mayor Rahm Emanuel, police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and other key players in the whirlwind legal saga if the city pursues a lawsuit.
“In light of their apparent vested interest in the matter, we are confident that Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson will not object to providing their testimony under oath,” Geragos wrote in the letter dated Thursday. “Mr. Smollett’s preference remains, however, that this matter be closed and that he be allowed to move on with his life.”
Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, found himself at the center of an international media firestorm earlier this year after he reported he was the victim of an attack by two people shouting racist and homophobic slurs.
But after Chicago police investigated, Smollett was charged with 16 felony counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging the attack. But in a surprise hearing last week, Cook County prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges against him, sparking furious public backlash from Johnson and Emanuel.
Two days later, the city notified Smollett’s attorneys by letter of its demand that he pay $130,106 — the cost of the police overtime hours expended in the investigation into his allegations. The letter warned that the city might sue if Smollett did not pay by Thursday.
In response, Geragos wrote that Smollett “vehemently denies making any false statements,” echoing the actor’s public assertions of innocence after charges were dropped March 26.
“Your claim that Smollett filed a false police report and orchestrated his own attack is false and defamatory,” the letter said.
If the city files suit, Geragos warned, Smollett’s legal team would demand to view all the evidence from the criminal case, including material that was never handed over to the defense before the charges were dropped.
In addition to Emanuel and Johnson, Smollett’s attorneys would want to take sworn testimony from the two brothers who told authorities they helped Smollett stage the attack, as well as their attorney and her husband, according to the letter.
After Smollett’s attorney didn’t pay up before the city’s self-imposed deadline Thursday, the Emanuel administration confirmed that a lawsuit was being drafted for filing in Cook County Circuit Court.
“Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett’s Los Angeles-based legal team,” Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement Thursday.
City attorneys plan to pursue “the full measure of damages” allowed by city law, according to the statement.
The sudden about-face by Foxx’s office to dismiss all charges against Smollett caught Chicago police brass by surprise and brought swift condemnation from Emanuel, who called it a “whitewash of justice.”
Prosecutors at first insisted the case against the actor was solid but then backpedaled. In a Tribune op-ed, Foxx said unspecified aspects of the evidence would have made a conviction “uncertain.”
Smollett has said he was walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment in the 300 block of East North Water Street about 2 a.m. Jan. 29 when the two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs, hit him and wrapped a noose around his neck. Smollett said they also poured a bleachlike substance on him and yelled, “This is MAGA country!” in reference to President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Chicago police initially began a hate crime investigation but eventually said their investigation found Smollett, 36, staged the attack.
Twitter @crepeau
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