Jussie Smollett donates $50,000 to charity in Chicago settlement, maintains his innocence

After reaching a settlement with the City of Chicago earlier this month Jussie Smollett agreed to make a charitable donation to have a lawsuit against him dismissed In a lengthy declaration to Fox News Digital Smollett mentioned Over six years ago after it was stated I had been jumped city functionaries in Chicago set out to convince the community that I willfully set an assault against myself This false narrative has left a stain on my character that will not soon disappear These executives demanded my money and desired my confession for something I did not do Nowadays it should be clear They have received neither The decision to settle the civil lawsuit was not the most of arduous one to make After repeatedly refusing to pay the city I was presented with an opportunity to make a charitable donation in exchange for the affair being dismissed JUSSIE SMOLLETT SETTLES WITH CHICAGO AFTER HATE CRIME HOAX CONVICTION WAS OVERTURNEDSmollett who is Black and gay originally disclosed to Chicago Police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks in January He was convicted in of staging the hate crime but his conviction was overturned in November In April the City of Chicago filed a lawsuit against Smollett in an attempt to recoup the costs of police researching the alleged attack The actor described Fox News Digital despite what happened there politically he still has a place in his heart for the city Therefore making a donation to benefit Chicago communities that are too often neglected by those in power will dependably be something I promotion he mentioned I've made a donation to Building Brighter Futures BBF Center for the Arts a local nonprofit doing incredible work nurturing self-expression creativity and exploration of the arts for Chicago youth This organization was of my choosing and I'm comforted that there will be at least one winner from this experience Smollett declared that even though the criminal charges were overturned and the civil occurrence has been dismissed I'm aware that it will not change everyone's mind about me or the attack I experienced However despite arduous and expensive attempts to punish me I am innocent both in the eyes of God and of our criminal justice system Now he explained he'll focus on moving forward I will continue creating my art fighting passionately for causes I hold dear and defending my integrity and family name with the truth the former Empire star declared LIKE WHAT YOU RE READING CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSIn addition to the he donated as part of his settlement Smollett declared he's also donating to the Chicago Torture Justice Center which provides materials to communities healing from the violence of the Chicago Police Department To anyone who has had to prove they have in fact been violated you know how hard this can be to address I stand with and for you Smollett declared of the donation In a message to the Chicago Sun-Times city lawyers declared The city believes this settlement provides a fair constructive and conclusive resolution allowing all the parties to close this six-year-old chapter and move forward CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTERCriminal charges against Smollett were originally dropped in March a month after his arrest After special prosecutor Kim Foxx requested a new inquiry the Empire star was convicted in December on five felony counts and later sentenced to days in county jail The Illinois Supreme Court decided in November that the special prosecutor's decision to retry Smollett on charges violated his rights In the present day we resolve a question about the state's responsibility to honor the agreements it makes with defendants Mark Geragos Smollett's lawyer communicated Fox News Digital at the time We hold that a second prosecution under these circumstances is a due process violation and we therefore reverse defendant's conviction This was not a prosecution based on facts rather it was a vindictive persecution and such a proceeding has no place in our criminal justice system another of Smollett s attorneys Nenye Uche advised Fox in a report Ultimately we are pleased that the rule of law was the big winner nowadays We are thankful to the Illinois Supreme Court for restoring order to Illinois criminal law jurisprudence Fox News Digital's Lauryn Overhultz contributed to this description