Legal counselors for the US performer Jussie Smollett have denied he had any job in an attack a month ago he claims was completed by two white men.
Their announcement came after sources disclosed to US media that police trusted he may have paid two Nigerian siblings to organize the assault on 29 January.
The siblings, who functioned as additional items on Empire, the show Smollett featured in, have been addressed by Chicago police.
Police have just said the "direction of the examination" has moved.
What have Smollett's legal counselors said?
"Jussie Smollett is irritated and crushed by ongoing reports that the culprits are people he knows about," an announcement from legal advisors Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said.
"He has now been additionally deceived by cases credited to these supposed culprits that Jussie assumed a job in his very own assault. Nothing is further from reality and anybody asserting generally is lying."
One of the siblings is Smollett's fitness coach, and the legal counselors said it was "difficult to trust that this individual could have assumed a job in the wrongdoing against Jussie or would dishonestly guarantee Jussie's complicity".
Furthermore, the police?
They had scrutinized the two siblings, Ola and Abel Osundairo, a week ago however the pair were discharged on Friday and are said to be still co-working with the examination.
The siblings had left the US after the supposed assault and were captured on their arrival last Wednesday.
Police sources revealed to US media the pair had purchased rope utilized in the assault at an adjacent handyman shop.
Police looking through their level discovered ropes, covers and dye, CBS revealed.
On Saturday, Chicago police representative Anthony Guglielmi stated: "We can affirm that the data got from the people addressed by police before in the Empire case has in reality moved the direction of the examination.
"We've connected with the Empire thrown part's lawyer to ask for a subsequent meeting."
Ola and Abel Osundairo have both showed up as additional items on Empire, a dramatization about a hip-jump head honcho and his family. In this Instagram post, Ola Osundairo (R) is seen close by Empire maker Lee Daniels (C).
What has Smollett himself said about the supposed assault?
He said two white men mocked as they punched him, poured a synthetic substance over him and put a rope around his neck.
"This is Maga nation," he says they let him know, alluding to President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again motto.
The on-screen character said he had been "perpetually changed" by the occurrence.
