By Canadian Press

Brothers in Smollett case are bodybuilders, aspiring actors

Feb 20, 2019 | 9:43 PM

CHICAGO — An attorney representing the brothers at the centre of an investigation into the attack reported by Jussie Smollett said Wednesday that her clients “manned up” and testified in front of a grand jury, before prosecutors charged the “Empire” actor with filing a false police report.

Gloria Schmidt spoke to reporters outside a Chicago courthouse where the brothers met with the grand jury, which was collecting evidence in the case. Without providing details, she said the two men accepted money from Smollett and wanted to come clean. She said they weren’t motivated by any promises from prosecutors.

“There was never a change of heart,” Schmidt said. “There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said, ‘We’re gonna correct this.’ Plea deal, immunity, all of that — they don’t’ care about that.”

The brothers, identified by Schmidt as Abimbola “Abel” Osundairo and Olabinjo Osundairo, are of Nigerian descent. But they told a reporter at CBS2-Chicago that they were “born and raised in Chicago and are American citizens.”

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They are bodybuilders who have developed an online following and have dabbled in acting and at least one failed business venture, according to social media posts and news reports.

Abimbola Osundairo, 25, graduated from Lake View High School in Chicago, where he participated in football, track and field, soccer and wrestling, before joining the football team at Quincy University in western Illinois, according to a football profile on the university’s website. Olabinjo Osundairo, 27, also was on the Quincy football team and had attended Latmos Comprehensive College in Lagos, Nigeria, according to his football profile.

The brothers also told a CBS2 reporter in a phone interview that they are not racist, homophobic or anti-Trump, the news station reported.

Smollett, who is black and gay, told police that two masked men hurled racial and homophobic slurs at him before beating him up and throwing some kind of chemical on him the early morning of Jan. 29. He also said his attackers shouted, “This is MAGA country,” an apparent reference to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again,” and looped a rope around his neck.

Chicago police said they’d reviewed video of Smollett walking downtown but found nothing showing an attack. They released images of two people, later identified as the brothers, who they called “persons of interest” in the case because they were in the area at the time.

The Osundairos were arrested in the case Feb. 13 at O’Hare International Airport after returning from Nigeria when police learned at least one of them worked on “Empire.” Police said they left for Nigeria on the day of the attack. But they were released after two days, when police said the “investigation had shifted” following interviews with the brothers.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office charged the 36-year-old Smollett on Wednesday with felony disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report.

Smollett’s attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor P. Henderson, met with prosecutors and police earlier Wednesday afternoon. It’s unknown what was discussed or whether Smollett attended the meeting. The attorneys didn’t reply to requests seeking comment.

A man identified on some videos as the Osundairos’ business partner, Leland Stanford, did not respond Wednesday to a Facebook message. The Osundairos did not respond to a message on their Team Abel Facebook page or to an email posted on their YouTube page, and a voice message left at a phone number listed for their father also was not returned.

Smollett’s lawyers had said the actor was angered and “victimized” by reports that he may have played a role in staging the attack.

“As a victim of a hate crime who has co-operated with the police investigation, Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” the weekend statement read. “He has now been further victimized by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”

The statement said one of the brothers was Smollett’s personal trainer, and the Chicago Tribune — which is not naming the brothers — reported that Smollett follows their bodybuilding page on Instagram.

The Osundairos, who promote a fitness and diet program under the title “Team Abel,” have more than 20,000 Instagram followers and more than 1,600 followers on Facebook. They also have a “Team Abel” YouTube channel.

They’re also aspiring actors who have posted auditions online and reportedly worked with Smollett on “Empire.”

The Tribune reported that neither brother has been credited for work on “Empire,” though the older brother said in a 2015 interview that he played the prison bodyguard for Chris Rock’s character. Rock guest-starred on the Season 2 premiere of “Empire” in 2015.

The newspaper also reported that the brothers signed in 2016 with Hinsdale, Illinois-based Babes ‘N Beaus Model and Talent Agency, according to one of the owners, Don Underwood.

Each appeared on an episode of NBC’s “Chicago P.D.” last year, and both had roles in the 2017 indie movie “The Worst Nightmare,” the Tribune reported. One had a small part in Spike Lee’s 2015 film “Chi-Raq.”

State records showed the Osundairos established a party and decoration story in 2015 that was dissolved last year, the Tribune reported. Federal court records show they filed for bankruptcy in 2016 with tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt and their store “operating at a loss.”

The newspaper reported that the older brother pleaded guilty in 2012 to aggravated battery and was sentenced to two years of probation for a stabbing that occurred a year earlier about a block away from the brothers’ home, according to Cook County records. His brother was ticketed for a DUI in 2015.

The Associated Press