In little more than three weeks, "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett went from a sympathetic victim of a racist, anti-gay attack to an accused liar whose allegedly staged assault further roiled divisions across the country.

Smollett, 36, was charged Wednesday evening with disorderly conduct, a felony, after allegedly filing a false police report about an attack he said occurred as he walked to his apartment building in Streeterville last month. If convicted, he could face probation to three years in prison.

Update: Smollett turned himself in early Thursday »

“Like any other citizen, Mr. Smollett enjoys the presumption of innocence," Smollett's attorneys, Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson, said in a statement. "Particularly when there has been an investigation like this one where information, both true and false, has been repeatedly leaked. Given these circumstances, we intend to conduct a thorough investigation and to mount an aggressive defense."

While Chicago police initially launched a hate crime investigation, authorities had recently said they were looking into whether Smollett paid two brothers he knew to stage the attack on Jan. 29. The brothers appeared before a grand jury earlier Wednesday, according to their attorney, Gloria Schmidt.

“There was a point where this story needed to be told, and they manned up and they said, ‘You know what, we’re going to correct this,’ ” Schmidt told reporters.

Schmidt declined to give much detail about the evidence presented to grand jurors. She did say the brothers got money from Smollett at some point, and said she believes the brothers have been in contact with the actor at least once since the attack was reported.

She did not expect any charges to be filed against her clients, and said authorities did not offer them any deals or immunity. “You don’t need immunity when you have the truth,” she said.

The brothers spent “countless hours” cooperating with police, Schmidt said, and she urged Smollett to come clean as well. “I think that Jussie’s conscience is probably not letting him sleep right now, so I think that he should unload that conscience and just come out and tell the American people what actually happened."

Schmidt declined to tell reporters how her clients got involved or their role in the incident.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said "detectives will make contact with (Smollett’s) legal team to negotiate a reasonable surrender for his arrest." The actor was scheduled to appear in court for a bond hearing Thursday afternoon.

His attorneys met with prosecutors and detectives earlier in the day, but it was unclear if the actor was present, according to Guglielmi. Besides Pugh and Henderson, Smollett is represented by high-profile Los Angeles-based lawyer Mark Geragos, who has represented celebrities like pop star Michael Jackson, R&B singer Chris Brown and actress Winona Ryder.

Smollett, who is African-American and openly gay, has said he was walking from a Subway sandwich shop to his apartment in the 300 block of East North Water Street around 2 a.m. Jan. 29 when two men walked up, yelled racial and homophobic slurs, hit him and wrapped a noose around his neck. Smollett said they also yelled, “This is MAGA country,” referring to President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan.

Police took the two brothers, 25 and 27, into custody last week after they were captured by surveillance cameras in the area around the time of the alleged attack. Guglielmi called them "potential suspects" last Friday morning, but they were released 12 hours later.

Guglielmi said that, after talking with them, detectives were investigating whether Smollett paid the brothers to stage the attack. Information from the brothers also allowed investigators to discover where the rope used for the noose had been purchased, according to a law enforcement source.

The shift in the investigation’s focus came amid often bitter public debate and stinging skepticism on social media — doubts that Smollett addressed in a national TV interview and in a strongly worded statement after the brothers were released.

"Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with," read the statement from his attorneys. "He has 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."

The statement said one of the brothers was Smollett's personal trainer, the first time the actor had acknowledged knowing either of them. The two also reportedly worked with Smollett on "Empire."

As many as 20 detectives were assigned to the case in the weeks following Smollett's report, and nearly every camera in the Streeterville neighborhood was checked for video that might show the attack. Some police sources privately expressed doubts after finding little, if any, corroborating evidence or video of a crime.

Police did release an image of two men seen in the area of Smollett's building around the same time, but it was blurry and dark. Smollett said his music manager was on the phone with him at the time and would support his story, but the actor refused to turn over his full phone records, instead handing police redacted records.

Chicago Police Department On Jan. 30, 2019, Chicago police released this image of two people captured by a surveillance camera near Jussie Smollett's building in Streeterville. On Jan. 30, 2019, Chicago police released this image of two people captured by a surveillance camera near Jussie Smollett's building in Streeterville. (Chicago Police Department) (Chicago Police Department)

The reported attack drew both outrage and support on social media from fellow celebrities, politicians and presidential hopefuls. Trump weighed in, saying: "It doesn't get worse, as far as I'm concerned."

As doubts grew, Smollett proclaimed his innocence through representatives and during a national television interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

A major break in the case came Feb. 13 when police arrested the two brothers after they arrived at O'Hare International Airport from Nigeria. Police also raided the men's North Side town home, seizing items as the brothers were questioned by detectives.