Jussie Smollett, the "Empire" star accused by Chicago police of staging a fake hate-crime attack, has been indicted by a Cook County grand jury on 16 counts in connection with the case.
The indictment, filed on Thursday and obtained by USA TODAY, alleges he repeatedly lied to Chicago police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist attack in January.
Smollett, who is scheduled to be arraigned on March 14, is charged with 16 counts of "false report of offense."
The Class 4 felonies are described almost identically, except for the names of police officers, in that Smollett is accused of "knowingly" telling police that he was the victim of a "battery, a hate crime and an aggravated battery" and that he knew at the time "there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed."
