US jury finds actor Jussie Smollett guilty of staging fake hate crime

A jury in Chicago has found US actor Jussie Smollett guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for falsely telling police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime in 2019, an attack prosecutors said he himself staged.

Based on examination of closed circuit television images and the cell phone data of Smollett and his two alleged attackers, investigators concluded on Thursday that he had orchestrated the whole thing

"The jury in the case of Jussie Smollett have found Mr Smollett guilty of five of six counts of disorderly conduct," Cook County Circuit Court spokeswoman Mary Wisniewski said in a statement to reporters.

Smollett, who was one of the stars of the popular television drama "Empire" at the time, told police in January 2019 that he was attacked in the middle of the night by two masked men while walking near his Chicago home.

The actor faces up to three years in prison, but could instead be sentenced to probation and community service. No sentencing date was set.

Smollett maintained his innocence in the face of a damning public account from authorities of their case against him and pleaded not guilty on all counts. His lawyer Nenye Uche said the actor would appeal the conviction.

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Paid to stage assault

Prosecutors accused Smollett of hiring two acquaintances, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to stage the attack while invoking Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan, after the actor had received a legitimate piece of hate mail which he felt was not taken seriously by his employers.

The Osundairo brothers testified they had been paid to stage the assault.

Abimbola Osundairo said Smollett "talked about how the studio was not taking... hate mail seriously."

"Then he proceeded to tell me he wanted me to beat him up," he said. "I was supposed to punch him but not too hard."

The brothers had flown to Nigeria, where they are from, after the alleged attack. They were arrested upon their return to Chicago in mid-February.

The episode initially sparked outrage, with many politicians and celebrities jumping to Smollett's defense.

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