Jussie Smollett has been indicted by a grand jury with 16 felony counts ,for falsely reporting a hate crime attack against him in January.
The grand jury returned the disorderly conduct charges on Thursday. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 14,CBS Chicago reposts.
The specific allegations–“false report of offense”– are Class 4 felonies.
“Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” according to the indictment.
He is facing a maximum sentence of 3 years behind bars,60 years probation, and $25,000 fine.
Last month, Smollett was charged with one count of disorderly conduct for allegedly staging a racist and homophobic attack last month in Streeterville.
Smollett, who is black and openly gay, had told police he was attacked as he was walking home around 2 a.m. on Jan. 29. He claimed two masked men – one of them also wearing a red hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical on them.
Police said, in reality, Smollett had paid those two men, Ola and Abel Osundairo, $3,500 by check to stage the attack.
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