Empire star Jussie Smollett has hired Michael Cohen's high-powered criminal defense attorney, as the police investigation into the attack he reported last month took a sudden shift amid allegations of a hoax.
Attorney Michael Monico, a former federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, revealed in a radio interview on Thursday in Chicago that he is representing Smollett.
Monico, speaking on WGN's The Roe Conn Show, did not reveal how long he has been representing Smollet or in what capacity.
It came as police in Chicago suddenly released two Nigerian extras on Smollett's show, who had previously been described as suspects in the attack, saying that 'new evidence' had emerged in their interrogations that requires further detective work.
Empire star Jussie Smollett (above) has hired Michael Cohen's high-powered criminal defense attorney, as the police investigation into the attack he reported last month took a sudden shift
Michael Monico (above) revealed in a radio interview on Thursday that he is Smollett's lawyer
Brothers Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo, 27, and Abimbola 'Abel' Osundairo, 25, were cut loose from police custody late on Friday. They had been held since Wednesday, after being picked up at O'Hare Airport while disembarking a flight from Nigeria.
'Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,' Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Friday night.
The Osundairo brothers' attorney, Gloria Schmidt, spoke briefly to reporters after their release, hinting that Smollett's legal future could hold difficulties.
'There's so many moving parts to this that will come out in time,' Schmidt said when asked if her clients had helped Smollett stage the attack. 'I'm going to let them tell their story when the time is right.'
Smollett made international headlines after reporting the attack on January 29, in which he said two white men assaulted him at 2am on a Chicago street, shouting vile racist and homophobic slurs.
The actor said that he fought back bravely as the two men shouted 'this is MAGA country,' poured bleach on him, and looped a noose around his neck.
Abimbola 'Abel' (left) and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo (right) were collared on Wednesday night at Chicago O’Hare airport, as they returned from a trip to visit family in Nigeria
Chicago PD confirmed on Thursday that the pair seen in this image from surveillance
