Actor and hate crime hoaxer extraordinaire Jussie Smollett is going to shell out $50,000 to a Chicago charity to settle a lawsuit filed by the city.
The lawsuit sought restitution for the cost of investigating the hate crime hoax he perpetrated in 2019. From CBS News Chicago:
Smollett was convicted in 2021 on charges accusing him of staging a racist and homophobic hate crime against himself in 2019 near his Streeterville apartment. His conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court last year on double jeopardy grounds.
The city sued Smollett two months after his arrest, seeking to have him reimburse the city more than $130,000 for the cost of the Chicago Police Department probe that determined his claims were a hoax.
Smollett filed a countersuit against the city for malicious prosecution, maintaining the attack was real.
Last month, federal court records revealed the city and Smollett had reached a settlement agreement, but terms of the deal were not made public until Thursday, when the city's Law Department confirmed Smollett has agreed to make a $50,000 charitable donation in exchange for dismissing the lawsuit. Smollett will make the donation to Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, a local organization that provides community, health, and education opportunities for Chicago's underprivileged youth.
"The City believes this settlement provides a fair, constructive, and conclusive resolution, allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward," a Law Department spokesperson said.
In a post on social media, Smollett gloated about the outcome, as the city had originally sought $130,000.
Over six years ago, after it was reported I had been jumped, City Officials in Chicago set out to convince the public that I willfully set an assault against myself.
This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear.
These officials wanted my money and wanted my confession for something I did not do.
Today, it should be clear….They have received neither.
The decision to settle the civil lawsuit was not the most difficult one to make.
After repeatedly refusing to pay the City, I was presented with an opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the case being dismissed.
Despite what happened there politically, Chicago was my home for over 5 years and the people became my family. Therefore, making a donation to benefit Chicago communities that are too often neglected by those in power will always be something I support.
The actor noted that he made the donation to Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts, a local nonprofit organization. “Though I was exonerated by the Illinois Supreme Court in a unanimous decision and the civil case will now be dismissed, I’m aware that it will not change everyone’s mind about me or the attack I experienced. However, despite arduous and expensive attempts to punish me, I am innocent in the eyes of God and our criminal justice system,” he wrote.
Smollett further stated that he would donate $10,000 to the Chicago Torture Justice Center, an organization that helps victims of police misconduct.
NEW: Jussie Smollett writes in a post about a civil settlement with Chicago that he’s “innocent in the eyes of God” and throws some snark at Chicago saying the city never got the confession or the money it wanted pic.twitter.com/UhAY9tXyPm
— Matt Finn (@MattFinnFNC) May 23, 2025
Despite Smollett’s claims, the Illinois Supreme Court did not overturn his conviction because it believed he was not guilty. It was because it found that the state violated his constitutional rights by prosecuting him twice for the same crime.
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