Jussie Smollett found guilty in racist hate crime case

Washington: A jury in Chicago on Thursday found US actor Jussie Smollett guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for falsely telling police he was the victim of a racist and hate crime in 2019 -- an attack prosecutors said he himself staged.

Smollett, who was one of the stars of the popular television drama "Empire" at the time, told police in January 2019 that he was attacked in the middle of the night by two masked men while walking near his Chicago home.

But investigators eventually concluded -- based on examination of closed circuit television images and the cell phone data of Smollett and his two alleged attackers -- that he had orchestrated the whole thing.

"The jury in the case of Jussie Smollett have found Mr Smollett guilty of five of six counts of disorderly conduct," Cook County Circuit Court spokeswoman Mary Wisniewski said in a statement to reporters.

The actor faces up to three years in prison, but could instead be sentenced to probation and community service. No sentencing date was set.

Smollett -- who was dropped from "Empire" after the allegations against him -- was acquitted on a sixth count.