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R Kelly back in jail over unpaid child support

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R. Kelly - When a Man Lies

R. Kelly is on his way back to jail just over a week after being released on bond following his arrest on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The Chicago Tribune reports that Kelly has been taken into custody following a hearing on almost $200,000 that he owes in back child support.

Spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office Sophia Ansari told the Tribune that Judge Lori Rosen ordered Kelly’s arrest, after warning him last month that he faced jail time unless he paid.

Earlier today, R. Kelly denied the allegations against him in a heated interview with Gayle King on “CBS This Morning.” “Stop it,” he insisted, “y’all, quit playing! I didn’t do this stuff. This is not me! I’m fighting for my f—ing life!”

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R Kelly charged with 11 more counts of felony sexual assault

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R Kelly mugshot
photo via Chicago Police Department

R. Kelly has been charged with 11 additional felony counts of sexual assault, The Chicago Sun Times reports. The charges were filed by Cook County prosecutors on on Thursday (5/30), about an offense that allegedly happened in January of 2010.

Chicago Sun Times details the new charges:

The charging document does not contain many details, but the new case may not involve a new victim, since the initials of the victim in the latest case are the same as one of victims in the cases previously charged.

The new case charges Kelly with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault, two counts of criminal sexual assault by force, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse against a victim between the ages of 13 to 16.

The four aggravated criminal sexual assault counts are all designated as Class X felonies that carry a potential sentence of up to 30 years in prison for Kelly if he is convicted. The four cases filed in February were charged as lower-level felonies that had maximum sentences of up to seven years.

Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said, “we’ll see what the charges are, and we’ll proceed accordingly. I know this much: it’s old. They’re allegations from years ago.”

Kelly was released from jail on bond following his February indictment. He’s now to appear in court again on June 6.

Meanwhile, veteran reporter Jim DeRogatis, who has been reporting on the allegations against R. Kelly for nearly two decades, is publishing a book: Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly. It’s due out June 4, which is the same day he appears at NYC’s The Greene Space with #MeToo founder Tarana Burke and writer Jamilah Lemieux for a discussion and book signing. Tickets are on sale now.

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R Kelly arrested on child pornography and other federal sex charges

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R Kelly mugshot
photo via Chicago Police Department

R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago on Thursday on new federal sex charges, including child pornography and obstruction of justice, as NBC News 4 New York reports:

Singer R. Kelly was arrested on federal sex charges Thursday night nearly five months after he was released on bail for additional sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said.

The 52-year-old was walking his dog in Chicago when he was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations agents and NYPD Public Safety Task Force, officials told News 4.

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into custody about 7 p.m. local time and was being held by federal authorities. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Kelly is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago.

There are separate federal indictments filed in both Chicago and Brooklyn, according to a senior law enforcement official, and a court appearance in Chicago could come later Friday. It is expected he will ultimatley be brought to New York to face additional charges.

A 13-count indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois and includes charges of child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice, U.S. attorney spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick told The Associated Press.

Federal prosecutors for the Eastern District of New York are expected to unveil Friday additional charges in the case.

Spokespeople from the NYPD and Homeland Security Investigations declined to comment on the arrest. Calls to the U.S. attorney in Brooklyn were not immediately returned.

This follows the 11 counts of felony sexual assault that Kelly was charged with in May. In 2008, Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges that stemmed from a videotape that showed Kelly having sex with a minor.

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R. Kelly reportedly attacked by fellow inmate

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R Kelly
photo via Chicago Police Department

R. Kelly is currently being held without bond at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, and sources tell TMZ that he was sitting on his bed when he was allegedly attacked by a fellow inmate. TMZ writes:

R. Kelly got a taste of jailhouse justice — a frustrated inmate went on the attack and jumped Kelly in his cell … TMZ has learned.

Federal law enforcement sources with direct knowledge tell us the incident recently went down inside the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago where Kelly was sitting on his bed when another inmate walked in his cell and started punching the crap out of Kelly.

Our sources say the inmate went on the attack because he was angry about the detention facility being placed on lock down a couple of times largely due to Kelly protesters outside the jail.

R. Kelly is currently awaiting trial in New York where he faces federal charges of racketeering, transportation to engage in illegal sexual activity and coercion of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and in Illinois where he faces charges of multiple sexual abuse allegations, including child pornography.

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R. Kelly found guilty of racketeering & sex trafficking charges

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R. Kelly

R. Kelly was found guilty of racketeering and eight counts of the Mann Act (a federal law about sex trafficking) by a jury in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday (9/27). Buzzfeed reports that jurors deliberated for only nine hours to reach the verdict, and found Kelly guilty on all counts.

More from Buzzfeed:

At trial, the government laid out an expansive, detailed case to prove Kelly’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, bringing hundreds of pieces of evidence and 45 witnesses, 11 of whom were his victims. They testified, at times through tears, about how Kelly sexually, emotionally, physically, and verbally abused them, some for years. He was directly charged for crimes related to just six women — including Aaliyah, the late R&B singer Kelly married when she was 15 — but the government used evidence that he’d abused others to argue that the scope of Kelly’s actions amounted to racketeering.

Kelly, who didn’t speak in his own defense at the trial, is still awaiting trial on yet more federal and state charges in Illinois and Minnesota, related to sexual abuse of a minor, federal child pornography, and prostitution.

Kelly faces decades in prison as a result of today’s verdict, and sentencing is set to happen on May 4.

This is Kelly’s first time facing criminal consequences after decades of allegations of sex crimes made against him. He was previously acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008.

The post R. Kelly found guilty of racketeering & sex trafficking charges appeared first on BrooklynVegan.

R. Kelly’s YouTube channels removed following conviction for racketeering & sex trafficking

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R. Kelly Double Up

Two of R. Kelly’s YouTube channels, RKellyTV and RKellyVevo, have been removed from the platform following his conviction for racketeering and sex trafficking in September, Reuters reports. “We can confirm that we have terminated two channels linked to R. Kelly in accordance with our creator responsibility guidelines,” a YouTube spokesperson told Reuters in a statement. The service also confirmed to Reuters that Kelly wouldn’t be able to create or own any YouTube accounts, and that if he created a new one, it would be deleted.

Kelly’s music will, however, still be available on YouTube Music, and videos uploaded by other users will remain available.

In 2018, Spotify removed R. Kelly and XXXTentacion from editorial and algorithmic playlists in accordance with a “Hate Content & Hateful Conduct” policy. Kelly’s team objected to the move, saying that he “never has been accused of hate,” and Spotify eventually removed the policy, saying “the language was too vague.” Apple Music and Pandora also stopped promoting Kelly’s music on their platforms around the same time.

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R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison

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R. Kelly

After being found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking charges last year, R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison, the Associated Press reports. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelley delivered the sentence on Wednesday (6/29).

Kelly, who didn’t testify at his trial, didn’t address the court at his sentencing, either, and his lawyers said that because his childhood involved “severed, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence,” he should receive a sentence of no more than 10 years in prison.

More from Associated Press:

The Brooklyn federal court jury convicted him after hearing that he used his entourage of managers and aides to meet girls and keep them obedient, an operation that prosecutors said amounted to a criminal enterprise.

Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, used his “fame, money and popularity” to systematically “prey upon children and young women for his own sexual gratification,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing earlier this month.

Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage.

The accusers alleged they were ordered to sign nondisclosure forms and were subjected to threats and punishments such as violent spankings if they broke what one referred to as “Rob’s rules.”

Some said they believed the videotapes he shot of them having sex would be used against them if they exposed what was happening.

According to testimony, Kelly gave several accusers herpes without disclosing he had an STD, coerced a teenage boy to join him for sex with a naked girl who emerged from underneath a boxing ring in his garage, and shot a shaming video that showed one victim smearing feces on her face as punishment for breaking his rules.

Kelly is still awaiting trial on charges related to child pornography and obstruction of justice in Chicago. That’s scheduled to start on August 15.

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R. Kelly convicted on child pornography charges

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R. Kelly Double Up

After being found guilty on racketeering and sex trafficking charges a year ago and sentenced to 30 years in prison, R. Kelly has now been convicted on child pornography charges, The Chicago Tribune reports. A federal jury in Chicago convicted Kelly on six of the thirteen counts he was charged with. He was acquitted of seven other counts, relating to conspiracy to receive child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

More from Chicago Tribune:

The verdict comes 14 years after Kelly’s infamous acquittal on similar charges in Cook County, which were based on a single video of Kelly allegedly abusing Jane in the hot tub room of his former home on West George Street in the late 1990s.

Prosecutors have said Jane lied to a state grand jury investigating that tape, claiming she wasn’t the girl depicted and that she and Kelly had never had a sexual relationship. Her absence at the 2008 trial was the defining factor in the jury’s finding of not guilty.

Prosecutors in Kelly’s current case have alleged her silence was no accident, but the result of a yearslong criminal conspiracy by Kelly and his co-defendants to keep Jane and other minor victims from cooperating with law enforcement and to buy back and cover up incriminating sex videos Kelly had made.

After maintaining a relationship with Kelly for years afterward, Jane began cooperating three years ago with a federal investigation initiated after the airing of the 2019 Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly.”

A date has not yet been set for Kelly’s sentencing.

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R. Kelly sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes

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Surviving R. Kelly

R. Kelly has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes, The New York Times reports. The new sentence is in addition to his previous sentence of 30 years in prison over racketeering and sex trafficking charges, but the judge ruled he’d be able to serve all but one year of the sentences at the same time.

Federal prosecutors had called for Kelly to serve 25 additional years after the 30, bringing up his “lack of remorse” over his crimes. “The only way to ensure he will not reoffend is to impose a sentence that will keep him in prison for the rest of his life,” prosecutor Jeannice Williams Appenteng said on Thursday.

Kelly was convicted of six of the thirteen charges against him by a federal jury in Chicago, including three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity, and three counts of producing sex tapes involving a minor. He was acquitted of charges relating to conspiracy to receive child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

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