The Nigerians have flipped on Smollett and were released. I think technically they have committed no crime themselves since he paid them to fake the attack and only he lied to police.
Especially since he may have concocted some story to the brothers about how they were playing parts or auditioning for parts with “Empire” etc. It would seem pretty fishy for 2 am except that (reportedly) they told Chicago PD he had them rehearse it days in advance (presumably at much more reasonable hours), and then he could have concocted some pretext for doing it during the night, such as being secretly filmed/observed for the show when there would not be people around etc.
We don’t yet know the details, of course, but the fact that the brothers were released and not charged does suggest they probably have committed no crime and that the police are satisfied to have won their cooperation as witnesses. Of course, they might still be charged later, but I suspect that Jussie used them in some way which he said was related to “acting” (they know he is on a tv show and they are probably very hungry for opportunities), and that they did not think they were committing crimes.
Let’s cut to the chase:
This...thing...gets to double dip in the “aggrevied minority” pool, so “he” will end up getting out of this unscathed.