Osundairo Brothers File Suit In Federal Lawsuit Against Jussie Smollett’s Attorneys
The brothers allege that statements from the lawyers “impacted the reputation” of the two men, “who are employed and live in Illinois.”
Guess what, Jussie Smollett. This situation is not going away.
Abel and Ola Osundairo, the brothers involved in the alleged racist and homophobic attack against Smollett, which the Chicago police concluded was a hoax, have sued Smollett’s attorneys for defamation.
Smollett’s attorneys are Tina Glandian and Mark Geragos along with Geragos & Geragos Law Firm. You can view the full complaint at the bottom of this article.
The brothers allege that statements from Glandian and Geragos “impacted the reputation” of the two men, “who are employed and live in Illinois.”
Smollett claimed two white men attacked him in Chicago on January 29. His case immediately fell apart during the Chicago Police Department’s investigation. The evidence they found showed that Smollett concocted the attack and hired the Osundairo brothers to perform it.
CPD placed Smollett under arrest in February. A grand jury indicted him on 16 felony counts.
Cook County’s State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office dropped the charges last month, which led to outrage from the CPD and Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The city of Chicago filed a civil lawsuit against Smollett to repay the costs of the investigation.
During the course of the investigation, the Osundairo brothers claim that Smollett’s lawyers smeared them in the media. They allege those smears caused the destruction of their careers. They also feel unsafe in Chicago.
From The Chicago Sun-Times:
The brothers contend in the lawsuit that “Mr. Smollett used his clout as a wealthy actor to influence Plaintiffs, who were in a subordinate relationship to him and were aspiring to ‘make it’ in Hollywood.”
The brothers add: “Mr. Smollett’s motivation was simple. He wanted his employer and the public to notice and appreciate him as a successful black, openly gay actor. So, Mr. Smollett directed every aspect of the attack, including the location and the noose.”
Here are a few of the allegations in the complaint regarding Glandian:
Ms. Glandian’s statements indicating Plaintiffs actually criminally battered Mr.Smollett without his consent are patently false and defamatory, as Mr. Smollett originated, planned, and orchestrated the attack.
Ms. Glandian, in stating that Plaintiffs criminally battered Mr. Smollett, implicitly proffered that Plaintiffs are guilty of perjuring themselves during the February 20, 2019 grand jury proceedings, and she specifically stated such in media appearances.
Indeed, Ms. Glandian’s statements have caused considerable damage to Plaintiffs’ careers, as they have lost talent agent contracts and career opportunities.
Thus, Ms. Glandian’s statements have caused Plaintiffs irreparable financial damage.
As a result of Ms. Glandian’s comments, Plaintiffs have suffered significant emotional distress and feel unsafe and alienated in their local Chicago community. This is because Ms. Glandian, a very famous attorney, falsely and publicly stated Plaintiffs have committed a gruesome hate crime, lied under oath, and intentionally misled CPD.
The complaints against Glandian mirror those against Geragos.
Here are a few quotes from the attorneys for the Osundairo brothers:
Osundairo brothers statement on #JussieSmollett case: “We have sat back & watched lie after lie being fabricated about us in the media only so one big lie can continue to have light. These lies r destroying our character and reputation & personal life…(1/2)
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
(2/2) cont: “Those who know us personally know we don’t have hate for anyone. That is not who we are. We try to spread love and positivity. We will no longer sit back and allow these lies to continue.” #JussieSmollett.
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
.@GloriaSchmidtR1 adds from the Osundairo brothers regarding #jussiesmolett “They were asked to do something by a friend whom they trusted and at the end of the day that trust was betrayed.”
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
“My city, my police department, and my clients all deserve to have their reputations restored.”@GloriaSchmidtR1, attorney for Osundairo brothers
A statement from the brothers read in part: We have sat back and watched lie after lie be told about us… to cover one big lie. pic.twitter.com/51jqzs53lt
— ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? (@WashNews) April 23, 2019
“Statements [by Geragos] indicating Plaintiffs actually criminally battered Mr. Smollett without his consent are patently false and defamatory, as Mr. Smollett originated, planned, and orchestrated the attack.” (4/7)
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
“Ms. Glandian inferred that Bola Osundairo and Mr. #Smollett engaged, at least briefly, in homosexual acts together. These statements were made to the third-party press and public. Bola Osundairo is heterosexual and was dating a woman at the time.” (6/7)
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
“The Plaintiffs feel unsafe & alienated in their local Chicago community. This is because Mr. Geragos, a very famous attorney, falsely & publicly stated they have committed a heinous, racially, & homophobically motivated hate crime, that they lied under oath, & that lied to #CPD“
— Rafer Weigel (@RaferWeigel) April 23, 2019
Osundairo brothers lawsuit by on Scribd
[Featured image via YouTube]
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Comments
Let’s think about this. We were willing participants in a false flag assault, with a false police report being filed by our employer/co-conspirator. And our reputations have been damaged by the attorneys claiming it was a real attack.
I don’t see any damage to their reputations. They are scum.
Hey, they did the job they were paid to do, that counts for something.
Trump should get the credit for the opportunity and the job that was created.
Agree.
But it doesn’t make it any less funny. By “funny” I mean “This ensures Smollett looks like an idiot.”
Why should they be the only ones to lose on this little escapade? Smollette himself initiated it and he’s getting off Scott-free. I say, let it rip boys – keep the hypocrisy of the whole incident front and center.
They did not commit any crime. They were hired to do a perfectly lawful job and they did it. The false police report their employer subsequently filed had nothing to do with them. If you’re hired to drive someone to the bank, and after you drop him off he robs it, is that your problem?
Of course it wasn’t real, it was an acting gig. They were trying to further their careers.
My only question is why aren’t they suing Smollet and Foxx too. Is Smollet still writing them checks? Are they still practicing their white face routine for him? This case gets more absurd by the day.
What should they sue them for? Neither Smollett nor Foxx said anything defamatory about them.
Smollett led the police and the public to believe that the men who “assaulted” him were violent criminals. I’d say that’s defamatory.
He defamed some imaginary white people, not these plaintiffs.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t drinking coffee while I read this story!
So, the two black, immigrant small fry that Smollett set up as white guys intent on a lynching are now suing Smollett.
But Kamala Harris and Cory Booker, both of whom have been photographed recently with Smollett, got their lynching legislation passed, due to the short-lived belief that the attack was real.
Smollett got his publicity, apparently without genuine penalty.
Now, the small fry are going to get paid.
And the rest of the country is going to vote DJT in a landslide if either Harris or Booker are the candidate in 2020.
This is a win, win, win, win.
I hope we get to hear the backstory on this, sometime.
back! They’re suing Smolett’s lawyers.
Seems like Jussie is leaving behind a trail of bruised and battered reputations everywhere he goes.
The whole affair is perverse.
Prosecutors, lawyers and judges created this odd, reality warped, Alice in Wonderland perversion of justice and are now busily feathering their nests with the by-product.
Every single one of the people involved in this absurdity – sans the CPD – should be shackled in irons and paraded through town whilst onlookers pelt them with rotten fruits and vegetables.
THAT would be justice served.
If you have crime without punishment, all you’ll end up with is crime.
Bombardment with decayed produce is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. Any polity which takes itself seriously should use the guillotines just often enough to keep them from rusting—but no more often than that.
Justice and citizen-lecturing me for pointing out the absurd nature of the whole bloody affair! hah.
A twisted smile creeps across the Red Queen’s white-powdered face.
FISKED IN NEVERLAND!
Are you knocking Chicago politics?
Well, Chicago has been run exclusively and corruptly by Democrats for generations. Democrats, and their Socialist masters, are more the cause than geopgraphy.
I note today that the Prosecutor for Dallas, Texas [a Democrat] just announced publicly a policy that has been in effect for a while. To avoid “mass incarcerations” he is no longer prosecuting theft or felony level drug possession. I rather suspect that drug trafficking will get a DA’s office courtesy card.
Subotai Bahadur
I can die happy, now. The best part of this is that we have lawyers suing lawyers for what lawyers have been doing for decades; publicly misrepresenting the facts concerning their client’s activities and their cases. If the Osundairo brothers’ filing is accurate, I hope the attorneys for Smollett end up paying through the nose.
Please by all means sue this scumbag.
However, I hope for their sake it’s not in the false hope that their reputations will be “restored”.
They were clearly hired to perpetrate a hate crime hoax and went along with it willingly. They are scumbags, too…Smollett is just the bigger, wealthier, more connected scumbag.
They will probably get paid off to go away, though. Safest bet.
Given that Smollett is a member of the Nomenklatura or protected by them and this is Chicago; they just may be made to go away, permanently, with no forwarding address on this side.
Subotai Bahadur
They were hired to do a lawful job and they did it. How is it their fault what Smollett did with it afterwards?
If you are hired to beat someone up, you don’t think that’s a crime?
In this case, it may be technically legal since the target was the employer himself. However, my post is about their reputation not their criminal liability. Aiding and abetting a hate crime hoax is a stain on anyone’s reputation.
Not if the person consents.
They had nothing to do with that.
“Not if the person consents.”
Try that and see how it works out for you. A person can consent to being killed and you will be guilty of murder should you carry it out. Consent does not absolve you.
That a person can’t consent to being murdered is a hangover of the days when suicide was a crime. But a person certainly can consent to being beaten, robbed, or anything else. I’m perfectly willing to test this; you consent to me beating you, I will beat you, and then we will see whether I am charged.
I consider it a shame that the people of Illinois wasted so much money in 1872. Just think about all the crime that Chicago attracts.
Hold on, campers. Do the statements come under the Privilege exception to defamation?
b. Absolute Privilege
In Illinois, there is an absolute privilege for any statements made during any step preliminary to or necessary for a judicial or quasi-judicial proceeding. Lykowski v. Bergman, 299 Ill. App. 3d 157 (1998); Gardner v. Senior Living Systems, Inc., 314 Ill. App. 3d 114 (2000). The privilege is predicated on the tenet that, although the defendant’s conduct might otherwise be actionable, the communication is protected and no liability will attach because he is acting in furtherance of some interest of social interest.
Press conferences aren’t necessary for any judicial proceeding. Were they preliminary to such a proceeding? Maybe, but it’s not clear.
Actually I don’t think the exception allows since it is statements made “in=process” and a press conference would be “out of procces”.
But even if it did, would Illinois law even apply. The suit is in Federal Court.
It was filed in Federal Court as Garagos is not a resident of IL. The case will be decided according to IL law.
You make an interesting point Redneck Law. There is usually a rather broad litigation immunity privilege in every State and Illinois appears to be very comprehensive. Counsel for the Defense would be remiss in not pleading the immunity as a defense.
Plaintiff’s counsel was very careful about dates. Charges were dropped on March 26 2019. The alleged defamatory statements were uttered on March 27th 2019.
My ultimate take way is who knows? You made a good point. A United States District Court Judge will get to make the call not me.
Their biggest problem: Garagos is their lawyer. Loses every time.
If he’s not in jail with michael avenetti.
Geragos: Bad Track Record:
https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/letters/geragos-bad-track-record/