Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo are the two Nigerian brothers at the heart of Jussie Smollett‘s alleged staged homophobic and racist attack on Tuesday, January 22, 2019, in Chicago.
On Wednesday, February 13, 2019, Chicago Police Department (CPD) arrested the brothers after they returned to Chicago from Nigeria. Law enforcement is yet to release to the public when the brothers traveled to Nigeria, but it is most likely they left America after the January 22 attack.
“Police have been questioning them since they were picked up by officers at Chicago’s O’ Hare International Airport on Wednesday after returning to the city from Nigeria. On Thursday, police served a search warrant at their home” said the CPD’s communications officer Anthony Guglielmi.
Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo (Heavy)
According to Vox, “an unnamed source told CBS News that the Osundairos told investigators that Smollett had paid them off. CNN similarly reported that “[t]wo law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation” said Smollett “paid two men to orchestrate an assault on him that he reported late last month.”
While in police custody, officers, while in search of the liquid poured on Smollett’s face during the attack, found Empire scripts, a black mask and a phone in the homes of the brothers.
On Friday, February 15, 2019, the Nigerian brothers were no longer considered ‘persons of interest’ in the case and were subsequently released.
How did the Osundairo brothers know Jussie Smollett? Olabinjo Osundairo was an extra in a 2015 episode of Empire, the hit TV series Smollett appears in. It is, however, unclear which one of the brothers was his personal trainer.
