R. Kelly’slegal and financial woes continue to stack up.
The “I Believe I Can Fly” singer, 52, was indicted on10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four victimson Friday and spent the weekend in Cook County Jail after failing to post the $100,000 cash payment necessary to make bail, according toCNN.
During the bond hearing on Saturday, Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. ordered that Kelly — whosurrendered to policeon Friday night — be held on a $1 million bond, according toThe Chicago Tribune.
The judge — who called the allegations against Kelly “disturbing” — explained the amount, saying the sum represents $250,000 for each of Kelly’s alleged four victims, theAssociated Pressreported. To leave police custody, Kelly is required to pay 10% of the total bond, which is $100,000.
On Saturday, the singer’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, denied the allegations made against Kelly, telling reporters, “He is a rock star. He doesn’t have to have nonconsensual sex,” according to the AP.
R. Kelly.Marc Andrew Deley/FilmMagic
Greenberg reportedly told journalists after the bail hearing that he was “very happy” with the bond and that it seemed “fair and reasonable given the allegations,” according to CNN, who also reported that Greenberg said Kelly “really doesn’t have money at this point” due to “mismanagement,” “hangers-on” and “bad deals.”
On Monday morning, Greenberg,pleaded not guiltyon Kelly’s behalf, reported the Associated Press.
Kelly’s financial troubles don’t stop at his bond payment as CNN also reported that court documents show Kelly owed more than $169,000 in unpaid child support to his ex-wife,Andrea Kelly, as of Feb. 6.
Greenberg told CNN that Kelly “does not have to pay the child support before getting out” of jail, though.
“The state is trying to make him do that, or they were,” Greenberg said. “But the judge said no.”
R. Kelly.CHICAGO POLICE DEPARTMENT/HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
In January, Kelly risked eviction from his 8,000-square-foot music studio in an industrial property on the West Side of Chicago since he did not pay the thousands of dollars in rent that he owed, according to theBlast.
Alleging that he missed two balloon payments and failed to pay his monthly rent, the owner of the building, Midwest Commercial Funding, filed an eviction lawsuit against him in July for breaking his contract, which guaranteed a 10-year lease at a monthly rate of $22,927.41. Kelly reportedly owes the company over $80,000 in arrears, the site reported.
Prince Williams/WireImage
The incidents that R. Kelly was indicted on are all alleged to have occurred between May 1998 and January 2010. His charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse are a Class 2 felony with a sentencing range of 3-7 years per charge and it is probationable.
Both Kelly’s attorney Greenberg and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office did not immediately reply to PEOPLE’s requests for comment. Kelly, however, has repeatedly denied all accusations of sexual abuse or misconduct made against him.
“After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived,” he added.
Avenatti, 48, who is currently representing six clients — two alleged victims, two parents and two “whistleblowers” — in the investigation against Kelly shared screenshots from the alleged sex tape on his Twitter account and addressed them further during a press conference held later on Friday.
In the new tape that Avenatti recently brought to prosecutors, Avenatti has claimed that both the victim and Kelly repeatedly “refer to the victim’s age as 14” in excess of 10 separate times.
“Repeatedly on the video, the young lady refers to Mr. Kelly as ‘daddy,’” he said during the press conference. “The video depicts Mr. Kelly engaged in oral sex with the young victim, both receiving as well as giving, as well as vaginal intercourse and anal penetration. There are also instances of Mr. Kelly urinating on the young girl on the videotape.”
The actions reportedly featured in the tape echo that of a similar act featured in a sex tape allegedly showing Kelly and another underage girl that led to his 2002 arrest on child pornography charges. Both Kelly and the girl denied they were the ones depicted in the video, and Kelly was not charged with assault. Six years later, a Cook County jury found Kelly not guilty on all 14 child pornography counts.
R. Kelly.Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
Kelly’s alleged behavior came to the media forefront again in July 2017, when BuzzFeed published a bombshell report accusing the star of running a “sex cult” out of his Chicago and Atlanta-area homes.
The star was reported to have seduced a number of young women with the promise of helping them kickstart a music career, only to “groom” them into being his personal sex objects for whom he allegedly controlled every aspect of their lives.
Kelly has repeatedly denied all claims against him, though a renewed interest in the allegations emerged earlier this year with the release of the Lifetime documentary seriesSurviving R. Kelly.
“We are proud that Lifetime was able to provide a platform for survivors to be heard,” producers of the documentary told PEOPLE Friday in a statement.
If you suspect domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
source: people.com
