Jussie Smollett went from victim to suspect and now, he's somewhere in between. After weeks of claims by police saying that he staged his own attack, the actor had all charges against him dropped. Chicago Police and the mayor of Chicago were furious over the State's Attorney's decision to drop the charges, especially after the amount of money that was spent on the investigation. According to TMZ, the City of Chicago pressing Jussie Smollett to reimburse them for the $130K spent on the case.
The City of Chicago sent Smollett a demand letter for reimbursement of the $130K spent on police overtime to investigate the alleged hate crime but Smollett's folks are budging. The actor's legal team reportedly already rejected the letter, saying Smollett's the one who's owed an apology from the Mayor and the Chicago PD superintendent. Now, a source close to the mayor said that the City is ready to file a civil suit against Smollett. According to the law, the City of Chicago is allowed to collect three times the amount of the penalty which could mean roughly $390K.
If this goes to court, the alleged attack will be fully litigated and the judge will have to decide whether he staged his own attack or not. However, since its a criminal case, the judge will only have to determine whether it's likely that the actor staged his own attack.
Empire could have enough validation to fire Smollett if the judge finds that he faked his attack. Additionally, if Smollett loses the case and refuses to cough up the loot, the city could freeze his bank accounts and garnish wages including his salary from the show.