Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman for the city\u2019s Department of Law, said late Thursday that the lawsuit was being prepared.<\/p>\n “Mr. Smollett has refused to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019,” McCaffrey said.\u00a0“The Law Department is now drafting a civil complaint that will be filed in the Circuit Court of Cook Country.”<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Smollett was charged in February with hiring two Nigerian-born brothers with whom he was friendly to stage a hate crime back in January. At the time, Smollett claimed that he was attacked by two white men who screamed “this is MAGA country!” before beating him, tying a noose around his neck and pouring bleach on him. After prosecutors dropped the charges, a Chicago judge sealed Smollett’s case file – which one police source later said was “eight inches thick” – something the states’ attorney’s office said it didn’t ask for.<\/p>\n The decision to drop the charges infuriated the police and outgoing mayor Rahm Emmanuel.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, a group of some 300 people, including off-duty officers, took to the streets to demand an explanation, and that Foxx resign,\u00a0as the FBI continued to investigate<\/a>\u00a0the decision to drop the charges. Foxx had recused herself from the case before the charges were dropped after it was revealed that she had exchanged texts with one of Smollett’s relatives. Adding to the air of conspiracy, a former Obama administration official reportedly tried to have Smollett’s case transferred from the Chicago PD to the FBI, but was\u00a0told to pound sand.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Smollett\"](\"https:\/\/zh-prod-1cc738ca-7d3b-4a72-b792-20bd8d8fa069.storage.googleapis.com\/s3fs-public\/styles\/inline_image_desktop\/public\/inline-images\/Screen%20Shot%202019-04-05%20at%207.19.09%20AM.png?itok=vupxZ02y)
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