US actor Jussie Smollett has been arrested in Chicago after being charged with filing a false police report.
The Empire star had said he was subjected to a homophobic and racist physical attack by two men in January.
Police suspect the 36-year-old actor paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack. They are both co-operating with the investigation, US media report.
He is due to appear in court later on Thursday. His lawyers earlier said they would “mount an aggressive defence”.
Suspicion over the actor’s claim started to grow after police said they could not find any video footage of the alleged incident from surveillance cameras. There were also no witnesses.
But investigators managed to track two men who appeared on video footage near where the actor said he had been attacked.
