On Thursday, the city announced its case will be dismissed in exchange for Smollett making a charitable contribution of $50,000 to BBF Building Brighter Futures Center for the Arts.
Attorneys for the city and Smollett informed U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall they had reached a settlement, though specifics have not yet been released.
The court ruled Thursday that special prosecutor Dan Webb and his team had no standing to charge the former “Empire” star after Foxx and her office initially resolved the case through an agreement which saw Smollett forfeit the $10,000 he paid in bond and complete 16 hours of community service.
In early 2019, Smollett made what turned out to be a false police report alleging that he’d been violently attacked by two men in downtown Chicago. The men allegedly punched him and yelled homophobic slurs, put a noose around his neck and told Smollett, “This is MAGA country,” a reference to then-President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Illinois’ high court has agreed to hear an appeal from Jussie Smollett, more than two years after the former “Empire” star was convicted of orchestrating an elaborate hate crime hoax.
The former “Empire” star on Monday filed a petition to the state’s high court after an appellate court upheld his 2021 convictions on five counts of disorderly conduct.
In a 2-1 decision published Friday, the First District court rejected the actor’s claims that he had faced double jeopardy when a special prosecutor filed renewed charges against him after Cook County prosecutors dropped their initial criminal case.
If the appeal before the Chicago-based First District Appellate Court fails, Smollett will have to finish a 150-day stint in jail that his trial judge ordered during his 2022 sentencing. 
The ruling came after a Cook County judge sentenced Smollett last week to immediately begin serving 150 days in jail for his conviction on five felony counts of disorderly conduct for lying to police. The appeals court said Smollett could be released on a personal recognizance bond of $150,000, meaning he does not need to post any money to be released.
Attorneys for Jussie Smollett are seeking to get the former “Empire” star out of Cook County jail on bond, as his family claims he’s being held in a “psych ward” to begin his five-month jail stay.
“I am innocent,” the former “Empire” star yelled as he left the court in custody. “I could have said I was guilty a long time ago.”
On Thursday, three months after a jury found him guilty of lying to police, actor Jussie Smollett returns for sentencing to the courtroom where he was found guilty of lying to police about an attack prosecutors contended he orchestrated himself.
Though cameras weren’t allowed during Smollett's trial late last year, Cook County Judge James Linn issued an order Friday allowing media organizations to film inside his courtroom during the actor's upcoming March 10 sentencing.
Over a Zoom call Thursday, Cook County Judge James Linn said Jussie Smollett, his attorneys and special prosecutors must appear in person for a March 10 hearing to handle sentencing and any post-trial motions from the defense.
The special prosecutor who secured convictions this month against Jussie Smollett said the way the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office first resolved the former “Empire” star’s criminal charges was a “disgrace” and that Kim Foxx and others lied about how it went down.
Finger-pointing, misleading statements, “substantial abuses of discretion” and a “major failure" of operations were among the findings included in a special prosecutor's investigation into Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx and her office's handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
 

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