The city of Chicago plans to sue Jussie Smollett for damages related to investigating his alleged hate crime hoax.

On March 28, Chicago gave Smollett a week to pay the city $130,106.15 and threatened to sue if he refused, reports The Chicago Sun-Times. Since the Empire star missed the deadline, a lawsuit is pending.

“The Law Department will file the suit in the near future. As part of this legal action, the Law Department will pursue the full measure of damages allowed under the ordinance,” Chicago Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement. “Once it is filed, the Law Department will send a courtesy copy of the complaint to Mr. Smollett’s Los Angeles-based legal team.”


The Chicago Tribune reports Mark Geragos, Smollett’s lawyer, said his client “will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum.” Geragos is prepared to demand testimony from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson if the case escalates. They have been vocal about their disapproval of the State Attorney’s Office’s decision to drop all charges against Smollett.

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“In light of their apparent vested interest in the matter, we are confident that Mayor Emanuel and Superintendent Johnson will not object to providing their testimony under oath,” Geragos wrote.

If the city goes forward with the lawsuit, Geragos will petition to see all evidence from the case and ask all reports be made available to the general public. He is also prepared to require testimony from the brothers who claimed Smollett planned the attack, their lawyer and her husband.

Geragos insists Smollett is innocent.

“Mr. Smollett vehemently denies making any false statements,” Geragos wrote. “Your claim that Smollett filed a false police report and orchestrated his own attack is false and defamatory.”

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