Actor Jussie Smollett files counterclaim against Chicago, alleges malicious prosecution: 'Humiliation, mental anguish, and extreme emotional distress'

Actor Jussie Smollett filed a counterclaim— which names the alleged acts of “multiple police officers and two brothers" — against the city of Chicago on Tuesday in connection with a purported hate crime that took place in late January.

Smollett insisted he was a victim of a racist and homophobic attack, but the city later determined that the alleged attack was nothing more than a hoax. Smollett faced 16 counts related to making false statements to police, but instead, the former “Empire" actor agreed to community service and a $10,000 fine in exchange for the charges to be dropped.

What are the details?

According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Smollett's counterclaim alleges that a “malicious prosecution" caused him a variety of issues such as “humiliation, mental anguish, and extreme emotional distress."

Smollett's counterclaim was in response to a lawsuit filed by the city of Chicago against the actor to recover $130,106 from an investigation into the incident. Smollett requested that the city's lawsuit be thrown out in August, stating that he could not have known what the police investigation would cost. He also insisted that the attack was legitimate, but U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall said the case would continue onto the discovery phase anyway.

As of August, Smollett's team still insisted that it had evidence that the hate crime hoax was real.

You can read more on the background of the case here.

What else?

Smollett's counterclaim pinpoints the city, the Chicago Police Department, Detectives Michael Theis and Edward Wodnicki, Supt. Eddie Johnson, and the two brothers involved in the alleged attack, Abimiola and Olabinjo Osundairo.

Smollett's counterclaim says that proceedings against him were terminated in his favor and “in a manner which indicates his innocence because all 16 counts of the criminal indictment were dismissed two and a half weeks after the indictment was filed." The claim also insists that the city of Chicago can't recover investigation costs from Smollett because it already accepted the $10,000 fine from him “as payment in full in connection with the dismissal of the charges against him."