*Jussie Smollett was recently indicted on new charges related to his ‘hoax’ attack in January 2019, and the lawyer for his alleged accomplices says they are prepared to testify at the trial.
Brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who have reportedly fallen on hard times because of their association with the case, say they will not feel vindicated unless the “Empire” actor is found guilty of lying to police, per Daily Mail.
Last year, Smollett was arrested after claiming to have been the victim of a racist, homophobic attack in Chicago. The charges were later dropped but a special prosecutor was assigned to review the case last summer. On Tuesday, Smollett was charged again with lying to police in a six-count, grand jury indictment.
The Osundairo brothers claim Smollett paid them $3500 to stage the attack against him but they didn’t expect the media storm it would create. Smollett’s attorneys have accused the brothers of lying.
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“This is the end of the beginning for them, they know there’s a long road ahead and there’s a lot of things that need to happen before a jury or judge finds they’re truthful,” Chicago defense attorney Gloria Schmidt told The Post. “They have no real skin in the game, they just know their role is to be honest and tell the truth about what happened.”
“Whatever shape that takes, whether it’s him fessing up, I think calling him a liar is not in their code, they wouldn’t want to make such a bold statement they just know he’s not being in accord with the facts,” Schmidt said. “They know what happened, they know what he did, he’s making it up to be something that’s not accurate.”
Schmidt told DailyMail that she nor the brothers were surprised by the recent indictment.
“They have no ill will towards Mr. Smollett. They really feel like their role in this now is to be honest about what they know.
“They hope he can be honest about what he knows,” she said.
“They don’t feel vindicated. A real vindication would be when a court of law says, ‘OK Mr. Smollett – you were guilty of lying.’ At that point they would,” she added.
Last year, the brothers filed a lawsuit against Smollett’s attorney, Tina Glandian, after she went on “Good Morning America” and a podcast and accused them of lying.
In the meantime, the siblings are unable to find work because of this case. They have reportedly been using food pantries to get by, Hot New Hip Hop reports.
“It’s been really hard for them, they’ve tried to kind of jump back into the life they had [and] they couldn’t,” Schmidt said. “They were getting 4 to 5 auditions a month before, that’s completely dried up. Their talent agent dropped them… they’re eating at the food pantry. It’s not going well for them.”
Smollett is due back in court on February 24.
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