One of Jussie Smollett’s defense lawyers filed a “malicious prosecution” lawsuit Friday against the star witnesses at the actor’s hate hoax trial, saying recently dismissed defamation claims against him were fabricated “out of thin air,” wasting his time and money.
The new civil lawsuit from celebrity attorney Mark Geragos against brothers Abimbola and Olabinjo Osundairo in Illinois state court followed shortly after a federal judge allowed a separate defamation claim against fellow Geragos and Geragos lawyer Tina Glandian to proceed.
In his paperwork obtained by Rolling Stone, Mark Geragos says the Osundairo brothers sued him in April 2019 with “frivolous and fraudulent” claims that he defamed them on his podcast Reasonable Doubt earlier that month.
“They fabricated statements out of thin air and falsely attributed them to Mr. Geragos. In actuality, and as the transcript of the podcast reveals, Mr. Geragos never said anything remotely similar to what the complaint alleged,” the new lawsuit states. The defamation claims against Mark Geragos were dismissed in federal court prior to the new lawsuit.
“Since the time the fraudulent lawsuit was filed, [Geragos and his firm] have wasted considerable time, effort, and resources to defend themselves, and to mitigate the damage to their reputation that flowed from defendants’ reckless and malicious actions,” the filing states.
The new lawsuit further alleges the Osundairo brothers sought to “exploit” their involvement in Smollett’...
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