Earlier today, we reported about two potential suspects in the Smollet investigation, who were arrested. The suspects are Nigerians. Olabinjo (pictured below on the right) and Abimbola Osundairo (pictured below on the left) and are brothers.
The profile certainly doesn’t fit what Smollett told the police when he said two people yelled racist and homophobic things at him. He said they also shouted, “This is MAGA country!” when they attacked him. There’s a discrepancy on what Smollett told the Chicago police and the men arrested today. Smollett initially told the police that he believed the attack was racially motivated. He also told the police officers he didn’t know his attackers.
The two Nigerian men have worked as extras on Smollett’s show ‘Empire’. The interesting thing is that Smollett is friends with these guys. He follows them on Instagram and works out with one of them at a local gym.
On Facebook, Abel Osundairo and his brother sold winter face masks. (Smollett had claimed his alleged attackers wore masks). “Winter face masks $20 + free shipping,” an advertisement on Facebook says.
They also advertised black hoodies. The men, who are from Nigeria, registered an LLC called “PARTY TIME. THE B’S OSUNDAIRO, LLC.” They have a limited business license to sell retail merchandise through the Chicago-based store.
“When they first learned about what happened to him (Smollett) they were horrified. This is someone they know. This is someone they’ve worked with, so they don’t want to see somebody go through that,” the attorney for the brothers told CBS Chicago. The lawyer, Gloria Schmidt, also told CBS Chicago that her clients “are baffled about why they are people of interest. It’s an awful thing that happened to Jussie, but it’s not my guys.
Today, Smollett appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the attack, demanding he’s telling the truth.
Now, the New York Post is reporting that Olabinjo Osundairo, one of the suspects in the alleged attack on “Empire” star Jussie Smollett was previously arrested in Chicago for attempted murder, a report said Friday.
The man was busted in 2011 for a stabbing in the north Chicago neighborhood near where authorities raided a house Wednesday night and confiscated items related to the Smollett case, according to The Chicago Sun-Times.
He struck a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to aggravated harassment for the 2011 attack, the paper said.
The sentence was two years probation and the man was ordered to pay a $674 fine, the paper said.
