Late last month, Chicago prosecutors dropped all charges against Jussie Smollett, leaving city officials enraged over their waste of time. As a result, the city fired off a warning letter to Smollett and his team, demanding he reimburse the city the cost of investigating the case.
But now, after seven days of no payment, the city has decided to file a lawsuit against the actor, in an attempt to collect the cash.
“Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019,” a spokesperson for the city said. “The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett’s L.A. based legal team.”
According to the Washington Post, the suit could result in a longstanding legal battle that could ultimately end in a trial centered around whether or not Smollett staged the anti-gay and racist attack in January.
In addition to the new suit, which will be filed “in the near future,” a group of Chicago police chiefs have called for the resignation of Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx following her decision to drop Smollett’s charges, despite the office’s belief of his guilt. However, Foxx’s office has since fired back, claiming the chiefs’ complaints are just “an excuse to justify” resistance to reform, the publication reports.
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