“Empire” star Jussie Smollett was indicted today by a Grand Jury on 16 felony counts and faces up to 48 years in prison if convicted, according to the Daily Mail.
The Mail reports, “The Empire actor was initially charged with one Class 4 Felony charge of disorderly conduct last month but a grand jury has applied that charge 15 times over in an 86-page indictment that was returned on Thursday. Now, he is facing a maximum sentence of 48 years behind bars and fines of up to $400,000.”
A copy of the indictment was obtained by the Mail which claims the 15 new charges were split into two sets.
The first seven counts relate to comments the actor made to Chicago police officer Muhammed Baig, who was the first to respond to Smollett’s apartment after his friend called 9-1-1 on January 2.
The second set of counts apply to the comments he made to Detective Kim Murray.
Smollett was arrested in February after police officially classified him as a suspect for allegedly filing a false police report. Smollett had claimed he was the victim of a homophobic and racist attack that occurred in January in Chicago where two men poured a chemical substance on him, put a rope around his neck and said “This is MAGA country!”
His story began to unravel shortly after the alleged incident. Chicago police have since announced that Smollett of paid two other actors $3,500 to stage the so-called attack.
