Actor Jussie Smollett will face a “bill” for the cost of the investigation into his assault, which prosecutors alleged he staged himself before dropping all charges against him, Page Six reports.
“The City of Chicago will be sending Mr. Smollett a bill,” Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
“From a 30,000-foot view, the bill will include the hours, the overtime, the financial costs and the resources that were used” in the investigation.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Thursday that the city’s corporation counsel will sent a bill to Smollett and his legal team after the police calculate the total cost.
“When [Smollett] does pay the city back on just what the taxpayers have fronted, in that memo section [of the check], he can write, ‘I’m sorry and I’m accountable for what I’ve done,'” Emanuel said, according to USA Today.
“I want clarity, I want accountability I want responsibility for a hoax that was committed,” Emanuel added.
Smollett’s legal team told the newspaper in a statement that “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.”
“Jussie Smollett thinks that hate-filled environment that the president created, pinning one American against another because of their background. ... He thought he could take advantage of and create a hoax [through] a hate crime,” Emanuel said. “It’s a vicious toxic environment and cycle. I want to break it.”
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