Jussie Smollet Running Out of Time to Pay Chicago Police for Investigation of Hoax

Jussie Smollet may be in trouble as he is facing a looming deadline to pay $130,000 to the city of Chicago for the investigative costs of what police say was a staged racist and homophobic hate crime on the actor.

Fox News reported today marks seven days since Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office sent Smollet a letter demanding he pay up. The March 28 letter called for him to pay within the next seven days, although it did not specify what would happen if he did not do that.

It is believed that should Smollett not pay, the city will sue him in civil court, where standards for proving he staged the incident will be lower than in criminal court. However, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will be able to reverse any legal action against Smollett when she is sworn in on May 20.

This comes days after Chicago prosecutors dropped all charges against Smollett for making up his hate crime, which could have put him in prison for 48 years. This was met with outrage from Emanuel and the Chicago Police Department, as they firmly believed that Smollett did indeed stage the hate crime and should be punished accordingly.

After the letter from Emanuel’s office was delivered to Smollett last Thursday, his lawyers responded by demanding an apology from the mayor and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson “for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud.”

“It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie – owe him an apology – for dragging an innocent man’s character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough,” Smollett’s lawyers said.

Despite this, Emmanuel held firm that Smollett should pay the $130,000.

“Given that he doesn’t feel any sense of contrition and remorse, my recommendation is when he writes in the memo section [of the check], he can put the word ‘I’m accountable for the hoax,” Emanuel said. “[This case] sends a clear message that if you’re in a position of influence and power you’ll be treated one way and if you’re not you’ll be treated another way.”

To millions of Americans, it’s clear that Smollett did indeed lie. He really should be in prison, but if he can’t be behind bars, the least he can do is pay back the cost of the hard work police put in when they investigated his fake crime.