On Friday (March 8), Jussie Smollett was indicted by a grand jury in Chicago on 16 felony counts after allegedly lying to police regarding a reported hate crime that shocked the nation.

Now, after his attorney Mark Geragos referred to the indictment as “vindictive” and the Chicago Police Department opened an internal investigation over ample media leaks, two other men connected with the incident have spoken out about the situation.

Brothers Abindola and Olabinjo Osundairo, the two men who allegedly helped the “Empire” actor orchestrate the staged attack back in January, have expressed “tremendous regret” for their involvement.

The pair’s attorney, Gloria Schmidt, appeared on “Good Morning America” on Monday (March 11) to defend their intentions and share their perspective in the aftermath of the situation.

“My clients were just taken advantage of by someone they trusted,” Schmidt said. “This was someone who the brothers thought could help their career. Obviously, Mr. Smollett has connections, he had a good position with Fox, so this was someone that they had trusted to consider their best interests.” She then went on to explain they were asked by Smollett to play a role in the attack as a “favor.”

Schmidt said their payment, which was for the sum of $3,500, was intended as to be utilized for personal training with the condition of doing the actor a favor being implied. Schmidt then elaborated further, adding, “If you’re friends, and I’m saying ‘Hey, I’m going to pay you for training, I’m also asking you to do me a favor… and the favor was to stage the attack.”

The attorney also said that her clients are not looking for anything in return from police for cooperating, but rather reiterated that they feel extreme regret.

“I’m confident that they did not do a hate crime,” Schmidt said, responding to co-anchor George Stephanopoulos inquiring as to whether or not the situation was an outright hoax. “They’re working very hard right now to piece their lives together. They know that this has impacted a lot of minority populations, so they’re working very hard to just move this in a positive direction.”

The Osundairo brothers were briefly considered to be suspects in the Jan. 29 attack. The brothers were found to be connected to Smollett by way of appearing on episodes of “Empire” as extras, while one had worked as his personal trainer.

As previously reported, the pair were in policy custody for 47 hours, but were released without being charged after telling police Smollett had paid them in exchange for their assistance in the alleged racist and homophobic attack.

Take a look at the attorney for the Osundairo brothers speaking out about the situation on “Good Morning America” below.