A lawyer representing two Nigeria brothers at the centre of an investigation into a purported attack on American actor, Jussie Smollett, has said her clients “manned up” and gave evidence to a grand jury before prosecutors charged the TV star with filing a false police report.
Gloria Schmidt spoke to reporters outside a Chicago court where the brothers met the grand jury, which was collecting evidence in the case.
She said Abimbola Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo had accepted money from the Empire star and wanted to come clean, and were not motivated by any promises from prosecutors.
“There was never a change of heart,” Ms Schmidt said. “There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said, ‘we’re gonna correct this’. Plea deal, immunity, all of that — they don’t care about that.”
The brothers of Nigerian descent told a reporter at CBS2-Chicago that they were “born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens”.
They are bodybuilders who have developed an online following and have dabbled in acting and at least one failed business venture, according to social media posts and news reports.
Abimbola, 25, and Olabinjo, 27, also told a CBS2 reporter they are not racist, homophobic or anti-Trump, the news station reported.
Smollett, who is black and gay, claimed he was physically attacked by two men who shouted homophobic and racial slurs at him before beating him up and throwing some kind of chemical on him on January 29.
He also said his attackers shouted, “This is MAGA country”, an apparent reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan Make America Great Again, and looped a rope around his neck.
Police said they had reviewed video of Smollett walking in central Chicago but found nothing showing an attack. They released images of two people, later identified as the brothers, who they called “persons of interest” because they were in the area at the time.
The Osundairos were arrested on February 13 at O’Hare International Airport after returning from Nigeria when police learned at least one of them worked on Empire. Police said they left for Nigeria on the day of the attack.
They were released after two days when police said the “investigation had shifted” following interviews with the brothers.
Prosecutors charged 36-year-old Smollett on Wednesday with disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.
