A jury has found Jussie Smollett, star of the reality television show "Empire," guilty of fabricating a hate crime against himself in order to garner sympathy and raise his celebrity status.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, lied to police when he said he was assaulted on a dark Chicago street in January 2019 by two masked strangers, prosecutors said.
Smollett was convicted guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct after a jury debated for more than nine hours in Chicago. Disorderly conduct is a Class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in jail.
Smollett was acquitted of a sixth charge of lying to a detective in mid-February, weeks after he claimed to have been attacked.
When Smollett is sentenced, he faces a maximum of three years in prison for each count, though he may be given probation.
The claims against Smollett have become a flashpoint in America's culture wars, where racism, politics, and celebrity all intertwine.
Special prosecutor Dan Webb told reporters following the judgment that "Mr. Smollett would not have lost this case as badly as he did today unless the jury found that he lied to them."
Smollett testified that his attackers tied a noose around his neck and dumped chemicals on him while chanting racist and homophobic obscenities and showing their support for Trump.
However, police arrested Smollett himself a month later, accusing him of paying two brothers $3,500 to orchestrate the assault in order to garner public sympathy and improve his showbiz career.
Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, the two brothers, stated that Smollett hired them to be part of a staged stunt and instructed them on how to atthim. The actor testified throughout the trial and refuted their accounts.
Nenye Uche, Smollett's lead defense lawyer, stated that his client was "an innocent man" who was convinced the guilty verdicts would be reversed on appeal.
"I do not feel for a moment that justice was served today," Uche said outside court, adding that the defense faced an uphill struggle because "Jussie had already been tried and convicted in the media."
Prosecutors had described the evidence against Smollett as "overwhelming," claiming that his actions in January 2019 resulted in an excessive expenditure of time and resources by Chicago police.
Gloria Rodriguez, a legal counsel representing the Osundairo brothers, told reporters following the decision that the verdict meant it was "time to cut the act, time to come clean" for Smollett.
