The former Empire TV star was convicted of faking a racist and homophobic hate crime after he hired two Nigerian brothers to attack him in 2019. Smollett claimed he was victimized in a racist, homophobic attack, but investigators soon determined his story was a hoax.

The Chicago Police Department came to the conclusion after more than two dozen cops spent weeks investigating the bogus story, logging 1,836 overtime hours in the process, a July 2019 legal filing said.

The city was faced with a $130,106.15 overtime tab and has since confirmed that it will press ahead with its lawsuit against Smollett to reclaim the cash. Their chances of a win or settlement are now all but guaranteed in the wake of the star’s conviction.

A lawsuit filed against Smollett’s legal team by the Nigeran brothers Smollett hired to attack him also stands.

It city said it’s going forward with the lawsuit following the 39-year-old actor’s conviction last week on five counts of disorderly conduct.

The statement said “The City filed a civil lawsuit against Jussie Smollett to recover costs incurred by the Chicago Police Department investigating what the City believed to be Smollett’s false police reports that he was a victim of a hate crime. While using a different standard of proof, the jury’s finding of guilt convicting Jussie Smollett of criminal charges stemming from the incident confirms that the City was correct in bringing its civil lawsuit.’

The Nigerian brothers, Abimbola ‘Abel’ Osundairo and Olabinjo ‘Ola’ Osundairo admitted that Smollett paid them to stage the attack, which they claim he orchestrated.

However, they later sued Smollett’s attorneys in April 2019, after the initial set of charges were dropped, claiming the case damaged their careers and reputations.

They claimed in the defamation lawsuit against lawyers Mark Geragos and Tina Glandian that they were maliciously portrayed as liars in the public.

Among the suggestions the lawyers made was that the brothers, who Smollett knew because he had enlisted them for personal training, might have been wearing white face when they attacked him on January 29.’

The brothers’ lawsuit said Glandian also inferred that  Abel engaged in a sexual relationship with Smollett, and noted that homosexuality is illegal in the brothers’ home country.

‘Same-sex sexual activity is illegal in Nigeria, which can result in 14 years of imprisonment,’ the lawsuit said. ‘If the accused is married, the punishment is death by stoning. ‘Ms. Glandian’s globally broadcasted statements that Bola Osundairo is homosexual endangers him and the lives of his Nigerian family.’

A federal judge stayed their lawsuit until the criminal proceedings are completed for Smollett, who has not yet been sentenced. The brothers were arrested following Smollett’s purported attack but never charged.

The brothers’ legal team is expected to file an update to the court by February 2; their lawyers said in August that ‘with regard to settlement, nothing has changed in the Plaintiffs’ position.’

Jussie Smollett faces up to 20 years in jail for staging the attack and concocting a ‘ridiculous story.’

The actor appeared at the Cook County courthouse with his family members and lawyer Tina Glandian, who entered not guilty pleas to each of the six counts. She also requested Judge James B. Linn to stop the case.

Abel and Ola Osundairo, the two Nigerian brothers who claimed he paid them to attack him were also in court with their attorney.

Smollett had pleaded not guilty to 16 counts last year before the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office announced it was dismissing the case. But retired appellate judge Sheila O’Brien later petitioned the court to appoint a special prosecutor to reopen the case and examine why charges against Smollett were dropped.

The case is now being handled by Special Prosecutor Dan Webb who was appointed to represent the state. Webb is also investigating Foxx’s office and how they handled the case.

Smollett told police that two masked men attacked him as he was walking home in January 2019. He said they made racist and homophobic insults, beat him and looped a noose around his neck before fleeing, and that at least one of his attackers was a white man who told him he was in “MAGA country,” a reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”

Weeks later, police alleged that Smollett had paid two Nigerian brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo $3,500 to stage the attack.

He’s scheduled to be arraigned before Judge LeRoy K. Martin Jr. at the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse and could either be released on his own recognizance or held on bail.

The actor is expected to plead not guilty to the six counts of felony disorderly conduct during Monday’s hearing.

Last year, Smollett was slapped with 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for making false statements to the Chicago Police Department, just weeks before the Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office announced it was dismissing the case.

Last year, Smollett said he was the subject of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago. He claimed he was punched in the face by two masked attackers, had an “unknown chemical substance” poured on him and a rope wrapped around his neck. He also said his attackers made reference to MAGA, the Make America Great Again slogan used by Trump supporters.

However, following investigations, authorities accused him of staging the attack on himself for publicity. Police claimed Smollett paid two Black brothers to carry out the attack “to promote his career” because he was “dissatisfied with his salary”.

Smollett now faces six counts of disorderly conduct, special prosecutor Dan Webb said in a statement.

He said “The actor had now been charged with “making four separate false reports to Chicago Police Department officers related to his false claims that he was the victim of a hate crime, knowing that he was not the victim of a crime,”

He is due in court on 24 February.

Attorneys for the former “Empire” actor filed a response Tuesday to Chicago’s lawsuit in federal court. They also filed a counterclaim against the city, saying Smollett was the victim of a malicious prosecution that caused humiliation and extreme distress.

In January, Smollett told police he was attacked by two masked men as he was walking home from a Chicago Subway sandwich shop at approximately 2 a.m. The openly gay actor alleged that the masked men beat him, taunted him with homophobic and racial slurs and yelled, “This is MAGA country.”

In February, police determined that Smollett’s masked assailants were brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo, who trained Smollett and worked with him on “Empire.” Authorities also identified the brothers as those on surveillance video purchasing the rope that was reportedly hung around Jussie’s neck during the alleged attack.

After an intense investigation, police determined Smollett staged the entire episode with the help of two brothers, whom he paid to take part in the hoax assault, in an elaborate effort to drum up publicity for his middling career. After prosecutors dropped the case in March, Smollett maintained his innocence but agreed to let authorities keep a $10,000 bail.

He was charged with filing a false police report, but those charges were dropped by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx a few weeks later.

After his alleged racial homophobic attack, Fox decided that Jussie Smollett character, Jamal, will no longer be part of the series moving forward and this was due to the fact that the police came out with a statement saying the attack was orchestrated by the actor himself.

Now close sources on the show are saying that cast members including Taraji P. Henson (Cookie) and Terrence Howard (Lucious Lyon) believes that Jussie deserves a second chance and he should be included back into the show full time.

Just last week, Fox made an announcement that Jussie got an extension through season 6 but the network do not plan on bringing his character back to the show.

Although Smollett maintained his innocence, prosecutors say Smollett staged a homophobic and racist attack to boost his career.

To cover the investigation’s cost, the 36-year-old actor was given seven days to pay $130,000 (£99,000). A civil complaint will be filed since the deadline passed on Thursday.

Chicago’s law department said it will “pursue the full measure of damages allowed”, adding in a statement that the lawsuit will be filed “in the near future”.

But the charges against the actor were dropped last week after initially being treated as a victim. Smollett was accused of staging the attack and became the subject of the police investigation. Prosecutors say they still believe Smollett faked the attack.

The city of Chicago said in a letter demanding Smollett to pay $130,000 which covers the cost of the investigation, “As part of the investigation, Chicago police reviewed video and physical evidence and conducted several interviews, expending resources that could have been used for other investigations. Ultimately, the Chicago police investigation revealed that you knowingly filed a false police report and had in fact orchestrated your own attack.”

Lori Lightfoot, a new mayor of Chicago told MSNBC following her victory that there needs to be a “much more fulsome explanation” as to why the charges against Smollett were dropped. We cannot create the perception that if you’re rich or famous or both that you get one set of justice, and for everybody else it’s something much harsher. That won’t do and we need to make sure that we have a criminal justice system that has integrity.”