American actor Jussie Smollett has been sentenced to a five-month jail term by a court in the USA for staging a “disgraceful” scheme to fake hate crime.
The jail sentence slammed on Smollett was ordered by Chicago judge on Tuesday, March 10, 2022 who ruled that the actor will be spending five months in prison for concocting a fake hate crime.
“I’m innocent! I could’ve said I was guilty a long time ago!” Smollett said as he was led away in handcuffs and remanded into custody.
The ruling by the Chicago judge against Jussie Smollett some came months after he was found guilty of five out of six-count charges leveled against him.
The trial stemmed from an incident three years ago when Smollett said he was attacked by two assailants.
The actor, who is black and gay, said the attackers shouted slurs at him and a Trump slogan, dumped a “chemical substance” on him and tied a noose around his neck while he was walking late at night in January 2019.
Authorities opened an investigation, but in February of that year, police charged Smollett with filing a false police report, alleging he had staged the assault.
At trial last year, a jury of six men and six women heard from brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo, who testified Smollett paid them to orchestrate the attack and paid them $3,500 to carry it out.
