“Empire” actor Jussie Smollett allegedly solicited and paid for illegal drugs on several occasions in 2018, as shown in newly released court documents.
As USA Today reports, Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Chicago Police Department released Smollett’s case file on Thursday in response to a judge’s order.
A review of Smollett’s phone records reportedly found that he communicated about buying illegal drugs — with the same two brothers who testified before a grand jury regarding a purported ‘hate crime’ attack against Smollett in January. In February, Chicago Police said at a news conference they believed Smollett paid the brothers to stage a fake assault, and he was charged with 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly falsifying a police report. The next month, prosecutors dropped the charges against him, in a surprise decision that has drawn widespread criticism and scrutiny.
“It was found during the review of these text records that on various occasions Smollett would request that (redacted) procure items for Smollett which Smollett described as weed, molly, or Whitney, which the (case report) was familiar with being slang for cannabis and controlled substances,” the documents read, according to the USA Today report.
Though names in the above excerpt were reportedly redacted, the USA Today report says that the brothers are named elsewhere in the case files.
According to the Smoking Gun, the documents were found during a search warrant for the phone records of an “associate,” and allege that Smollett solicited drugs via text message on multiple occasions in the last year, reportedly paying for the drugs via the Venmo money-sharing app. In September 2018, Smollett reportedly classified a Venmo transaction as payment for “training,” though police reportedly believe the payment was for Ecstasy.
Authorities are reportedly seeking a search warrant for Smollett’s Venmo transactions, and the company has agreed to preserve the activity on the actor’s account. As CrimeOnline previously reported, the memo on a $3,500 check police claimed Smollett gave the brothers as payment for the alleged hoax hate crime said it was for training and nutrition for an upcoming video shoot.
Smollett has not yet commented on the drug purchase allegations.
[Feature image: AP Photo/Matt Marton]
