One of two Nigerian-American brothers who allegedly conspired with “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett to fake a hate crime in Chicago in January has won an amateur boxing title.
Abel and Ola Osundairo told Chicago detectives that they were paid $3,500 by Smollett to pretend to be white supporters of President Donald Trump and beat him up at around 2 a.m. in the middle of a polar vortex.
Smollett was charged with 16 felony counts but all were later dropped despite prosecutors saying the case built by the police was solid and the city’s mayor slamming the move.
The Osundairos have kept a low profile since being released by the police but Abel, whose full name is Abimbola, appeared in the annual Chicago Golden Gloves boxing championship on April 12.
The Chicago Tribune described the event as “the city’s preeminent amateur boxing tournament.”
Osundairo won by a technical knockout in the first round of the competition, which was held at Cicero Stadium. He had defeated his semifinal opponent in March.
Video footage of the fight was posted by ABC journalist Stephanie Wash.
Osundairo told Wash that he had been training for the fight five days a week.
Tonight at the Chicago Golden Gloves Finals — Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo overpowered his opponent from the start.
After the match he told me he’s just boxing for fun, training 5 days a week.
Tonight was all about his win; he didn’t want to discuss anything else. pic.twitter.com/BqnS9JItE9— ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? (@WashNews) April 13, 2019
And then when Abel Osundairo won, he hit us with one of these.
Cheering him on — family, including his brother Ola who was never too far from his side, and Gloria Schmidt. Osundairo told me he was “nothing” without their support. pic.twitter.com/QqFCcjHvrQ— ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? (@WashNews) April 13, 2019
Smollett Tried to Mislead Police: Lawsuit
Smollett tried to mislead the Chicago Police Department by saying his attackers were white, according to a civil lawsuit filed by the city of Chicago.
The lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on April 11 after Smollett refused to reimburse the city for approximately $130,000 police spent on overtime investigating the case.
Smollett, 36, claimed shortly after the alleged attack against him on Jan. 29 that two men dressed in black and wearing ski masks assaulted him after shouting racial slurs. He claimed that the men were supporters of Trump.
But police later arrested the Osundairo brothers. According to the police, Smollett paid the brothers—who he knew personally and hired previously as personal trainers—$3,500 to stage the attack and pretend to beat him up.
The staged attack included instructions on posing as Trump supporters.
According to prosecutors, Smollett told Ola Osundairo to yell “This is MAGA country” while placing a rope around his neck, in an apparent reference to the president’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan.
While “MAGA” is known as a shortening of the slogan, it’s rarely said aloud in place of the full slogan, making the quote appear awkward. With Chicago being heavily liberal, along with most other American cities, it was one of the aspects of the alleged attack that first ignited people’s doubts.
Prosecutors also said that Smollett told the brothers to yell slurs at him and that Abel Osundairo, the other brother, should “attack him, but not hurt him too badly.”
Smollett told police that the primary attacker “was wearing a ski mask that covered his entire face, with the exception of the area around his eyes, by which [Smollett] could tell the attacker was white-skinned,” according to the lawsuit.
“(Smollett) made this statement despite knowing that the Osundairo Brothers are not white-skinned,” the suit says. “By providing this false description, [Smollett] purposely misled the CPD officers to believe that his attackers were white, when, in fact, [Smollett] knew that his attackers were the Osundairo brothers.”
