Empire actor Jussie Smollett turned himself in to Chicago police early Thursday to face accusations he orchestrated the hate crime attack that he reported on January 29.

Smollett claimed two men yelled homophobic and racist epithets at him, beat him, tied a noose around his neck, and poured a chemical substance on him that evening. But now police say the actor has admitted to staging the supposed crime to further his career.

"He took advantage of the pain and anger of racism to promote his career," Supt. Eddie Johnson of the Chicago Police Department told reports at a press conference earlier today. "This publicity stunt was a scar that Chicago didn’t earn and certainly didn’t deserve."

Prior to this stunt, Jussie had mailed a letter to himself "that relied on racial, homophobic and political language," and lack of attention to that led Smollett to orchestrate this supposed hate crime “because he was dissatisfied with his salary.”

News that Smollett had not fully cooperated with police started theories that something was fishy with the actor's story. Numerous security videos helped discount Smollett's story, in addition to questioning the two suspects who divulged to police that Jussie had paid them to fake the attack.

Smollett was charged with a felony crime of disorderly conduct for falsifying a police report yesterday and today he turned himself in and was booked. Chicago PD Tweeted: "Chicago Police Detectives take #Empire actor #JussieSmollett into custody to face Class 4 Felony charge (punishable for up to 3yrs in prison) for Disorderly Conduct in Falsifying Police report."

Smollett could end up paying for the three-week long investigation that resulted in police realizing his guilt. Reports say the tab could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. See the full press conference here ...