Jussie Smollett Case Reports Reveal CPD Paid For Hotel For Brothers Involved In Attack
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police were ordered Wednesday not to release any more records from the Jussie Smollett case but not before granting a CBS 2 request for police reports.
CBS 2's Freedom of Information Act request was granted 12 minutes before CPD was told their records have also been sealed by the court.
CBS 2 requests for body cam and interrogation video were denied, but police reports revealed some new information. Smollett's case file has been completely wiped from the public Cook County Clerk's database. It had detailed the progress of the charges that have since been dropped, involving 16 counts of disorderly conduct for allegedly lying to police about a hate crime.
Before CPD was ordered to stop sharing its files, the department sent CBS 2 page after page of redacted case reports filed by investigators who were working to solve that alleged hate crime and in the process, according to those investigators, uncovered a hoax.
The reports show police obtained a search warrant to access Smollett's iCloud account, and Chicago police shared that warrant with the FBI.
The reports also call into question whether a check for $3,500 that Smollett wrote to his trainers Ola and Abel Osundairo was actually for training expenses as the 36-year-old claimed.
According to the police reports, the Osundairo brothers told police their average hourly pay rate for personal training ranges between $20 and $50.
At their maximum rate, Smollett would have paid for 70 one-hour training session with the single check.
CBS 2 has learned that the brothers were sequestered during the investigation. Reports show CPD paid for a six-night hotel stay with 24-hour security in the South Loop.
Meanwhile, the brief 2.5 page transcript from Tuesday's hearing shows that a motion for an "immediate sealing" of Smollett's criminal records was obtained on the spot.
CBS 2 was told an expungement hearing would take place Wednesday, but it did not. And with the case file erased from the clerk's office database, it's not apparent when it will be rescheduled.
