The Osundairo brothers were allegedly paid $3,500 to help Jussie Smollett stage the January 29 attack, during which he claimed to have had bleach poured on him and a rope tied around his neck.
Chicago police have released footage of the moment that brothers Abel and Ola Osundairo being driven towards the scene of the staged attack.
In the footage, which was taken from a taxi driver’s dashcam, the brothers, 25 and 27, can be seen sitting silently in the back of the car.
Both are wearing hoodies that cover most of their faces and one is already wearing the ski mask later used in the attack.
At the end of the ride, which ended at 1.22am - just 40 minutes before the hoax altercation took place - one of the brothers can be heard telling the driver to keep the change after paying the $9.25 fare.
The Osundairo brothers were allegedly paid $3,500 to help Jussie Smollett stage the January 29 attack, during which he claimed to have had bleach poured on him and a rope tied around his neck.
Smollett’s story was unraveled after the brothers were arrested at Chicago’s O’Hare airport on the way home from a family vacation in Nigeria on February 13.
Bodycam footage of the arrest, which took place on the tarmac at the airport, has also been released, as has a video of their arrival at a police premises in south Chicago.
The two were initially charged with battery and then released without charge after confessing to their role in the hoax.
Both spent the days immediately after their release holed up with police minders at a hotel inside the Chicago Loop to prevent them contacting or being contacted by Smollett, the UK Daily Mail reports.