Photo Credit: Jussie Smollett/Youtube
Jussie Smollett’s attorney gave quite the indignant response to the Chicago Police Department press conference that took place this week saying they were jumping the gun, ignoring due process and seeking to indict Smollett in the court of public opinion. Despite how damning the information against Smollett was, they have a point. So far, Smollett has not been found guilty of anything so to come out and blast him in the public as a liar marring the character of the city of Chicago and their police department is a bit presumptuous.
New information has come out that just might help Smollett’s case and that would be the actual check made out to the Nigerian brothers he’s alleged to have paid to attack him and text messages between them. The $3,500 check shows it was written for “5 week Nutrition/Workout program Don’t Go.” This was to get Smollett ready for a music video he’d be appearing shirtless in and to help him lose the 20 pounds he had gianed that had him at 192 pounds.
Then there are text messages between Smollett and Abel who he refers to as Bon spanning from the 20th to the 28th. “5 week Nutrition/Workout program Don’t Go,” Bon wrote on th 28th. A text on the 20th gave him a menu for the day including chicken thigh, StarKist Tuna, Eggs and Smucker’s peanut butter. On the 25th, a text read “This is the meal plan and the breakdown of macronutrients. Also includes projected fat loss.” A text showing a calendar entry for the 23rd marked Don’t Go was shown, which was the date of the music video shoot. A screenshot from September 27th, 2018 showed a Venmo payment of $100 to Bola (Abimbola aka Abel) for “Training,” showing he’s paid them in the past.
The $3,500 Smollett is being accused of paying the brothers to attack him has been broken down by a source close to the situation as follows: $600 a week for the workout plan for 5 weeks, and $100 a week for the nutrition plan for 5 weeks. Ola and Abel have both told the grand jury the payment was for training which is different than what they said earlier. It appears Smollett’s defense team has found a way to poke holes in the prosecution, but even with the payment issue in the air, there is still the powdered substance sent in the mail as well as the racist letter. The Chicago Police Department has said Smollett sent both, although that hasn’t been confirmed. Mail fraud is a possible 5-10 years in prison and federal law enforcement has not yet concluded that Smollett has sent the two letters.
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