Gil Soffer Offers Comments on Controversial Smollett Case

Gil Soffer, managing partner of Katten's Chicago office and national co-head of the White Collar, Investigations and Compliance practice, spoke with ABC7 Chicago on Cook County prosecutors dropping disorderly conduct charges against actor Jussie Smollett. Gil noted that the prosecutors' decision "doesn't make sense." He stated, "It's the very same authority that decided to bring charges in the first place that has now decided to drop those charges." He added that it was incredibly unorthodox because the defendant would usually be required to admit to doing the crime. "It's highly unusual to let someone off the hook entirely and not have them acknowledge any wrongdoing. And it's even more unusual, of course, to do that in a case of this profile after the superintendent of the police gave the detailed recitation of the wrongdoing that he did." ("Jussie Smollett Update: Charges Against 'Empire' Actor Dropped; 'Not an Exoneration,' Prosecutor Says," March 26, 2019)