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R. Kelly Accused of Paying Off Family at Center of His 2008 Trial R. Kelly Accused of Paying Off Family at Center of His 2008 Trial
(about 3 hours later)
R. Kelly knew he had a problem. CHICAGO — R. Kelly knew he had a problem.
He was under investigation for making a videotape that purported to show him having sex with and urinating on a teenage girl, a tape that would soon become infamous. He was under investigation beginning around late 2000 for making a videotape that purported to show him having sex with and urinating on a teenage girl, a tape that would soon become infamous.
So, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Friday in Chicago, he and his associates tried to take care of it.So, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed Friday in Chicago, he and his associates tried to take care of it.
They gave the girl and her family gifts and money over more than a dozen years, the indictment alleges. There were payments of thousands of dollars. A GMC Yukon Denali SUV given to the girl. A trip abroad to make them unavailable to law enforcement. And instructions that they lie to investigators to protect him.They gave the girl and her family gifts and money over more than a dozen years, the indictment alleges. There were payments of thousands of dollars. A GMC Yukon Denali SUV given to the girl. A trip abroad to make them unavailable to law enforcement. And instructions that they lie to investigators to protect him.
It may never be known whether these activities, if proven true, helped lead to his acquittal in 2008 when that case finally went to trial. But these allegations, some of which have long been the subject of rumor and suspicion, are part of a raft of new federal charges brought against Mr. Kelly this week, shifting what had been a local case in Chicago to a multistate federal prosecution.It may never be known whether these activities, if proven true, helped lead to his acquittal in 2008 when that case finally went to trial. But these allegations, some of which have long been the subject of rumor and suspicion, are part of a raft of new federal charges brought against Mr. Kelly this week, shifting what had been a local case in Chicago to a multistate federal prosecution.
[What we know about R. Kelly’s two-decade trail of sexual abuse accusations.]
Mr. Kelly, whose real name is Robert S. Kelly, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 13 counts, among them conspiracy to obstruct justice and producing child pornography, including four videos that included the girl whose family he is accused of paying. He was also accused of crimes against four other minors, including aggravated criminal abuse and sexual exploitation of a child.Mr. Kelly, whose real name is Robert S. Kelly, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 13 counts, among them conspiracy to obstruct justice and producing child pornography, including four videos that included the girl whose family he is accused of paying. He was also accused of crimes against four other minors, including aggravated criminal abuse and sexual exploitation of a child.
In addition, a grand jury in Brooklyn indicted Mr. Kelly on five counts, including racketeering and violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity. Those activities included exploitation of a child, forced labor, and kidnapping, according to the indictment. There were five victims in that indictment, three of whom were minors at the time. In addition, a grand jury in Brooklyn indicted Mr. Kelly on five counts, including racketeering and violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity. Altogether, the indictments accuse Mr. Kelly of crimes against 10 women, eight of whom were minors at the time.
Mr. Kelly, 52, was arrested Thursday night while walking his dog by a team of federal officers from Homeland Security Investigations from New York and Chicago as well as the New York Police Department. Mr. Kelly, 52, was arrested Thursday night in Chicago while walking his dog, a Pomeranian named Believe (one of Mr. Kelly’s signature hits was “I Believe I Can Fly”). He was taken into custody by a team of federal officers from Homeland Security Investigations from New York and Chicago as well as the New York Police Department.
The singer is already facing charges, in state court in Chicago, of sexually assaulting four women, three of whom were minors at the time. The singer was already facing charges, in state court in Chicago, of sexually assaulting four women, three of whom who were underage.
Mr. Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, posted a statement on Twitter Friday morning that said most of the conduct for which Mr. Kelly was arrested on Thursday was decades old and covered the same activities Mr. Kelly has been charged with in state court, or had already been acquitted of in 2008. Mr. Kelly, dressed in a jail-issued orange jumpsuit and orange sneakers, appeared in a brief hearing in federal court in Chicago on Friday. He answered “yes, ma’am” when Magistrate Judge Sheila Finnegan asked him whether he understood the charges and his rights. He was sent back to jail; no decision was made on whether he would be granted bail, which prosecutors oppose.
His lawyer, Steve Greenberg, posted a statement on Twitter on Friday morning that said most of the conduct for which Mr. Kelly was arrested on Thursday was decades old and covered the same activities Mr. Kelly has been charged with in state court, or had already been acquitted of in 2008.
“The conduct alleged appears to largely be the same as the conduct previously alleged against Mr. Kelly in his current state indictment and his former state charges that he was acquitted of,” Mr. Greenberg wrote.“The conduct alleged appears to largely be the same as the conduct previously alleged against Mr. Kelly in his current state indictment and his former state charges that he was acquitted of,” Mr. Greenberg wrote.
It was not clear how many of the four women from the Chicago case were also included in the new federal indictments, though the numbers indicted there was at least one. And the crimes now being alleged are more expansive than those in the state case. It was not clear how many of the four women from the Chicago case were also included in the new federal indictments, though the numbers indicated there were at least six new women. And the crimes now being alleged are more expansive than those in the state case.
Mr. Greenberg said a bail hearing would be held next week, and that Mr. Kelly would remain in custody until then. After decades of allegations and rumors, the investigations into Mr. Kelly’s behavior took off after the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” aired on Lifetime. A Homeland Security Investigations official said on Friday that the office began investigating after an agent watched the show.
Robert Chiarito contributed reporting from Chicago. Among the more disturbing allegations in the documentary, which were also described by the journalist Jim DeRogatis, was that Mr. Kelly and members of his entourage would groom and recruit girls and women, and then keep them in a kind of captivity.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates. According to one of the indictments, the women were required to wear baggy clothing when not around Mr. Kelly and were ordered to keep their heads down, forbidden from looking at other men. They had to get Mr. Kelly’s permission to leave their room, even to eat or go to the bathroom. They were told to call him “Daddy.”
One of the women met Mr. Kelly in a mall about 15 years ago, when she was in her early 20s, according to a court filing on Friday by Richard P. Donoghue, the United States attorney in Brooklyn. Mr. Kelly invited her to his recording studio in Chicago, where associates of his made a copy of her driver’s license, searched her suitcase and had her sign what she believed was a nondisclosure agreement.
She was taken to a locked bedroom, where she was kept for three days “without sustenance.” After a member of Mr. Kelly’s entourage finally gave her something to eat and drink, she became dizzy and tired. She woke up to find Mr. Kelly with her, Mr. Donoghue wrote, “in circumstances that made clear he had sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious.”
Another victim was 16 when Mr. Kelly, who was in his 40s at the time, began abusing her, Mr. Donoghue wrote. Mr. Kelly made her believe that if she did not obey him, “she or her family members would suffer serious harm.” And if she did not follow his sexual commands, she would be slapped, choked or locked in her room for days at a time without food.
One woman identified in the Brooklyn indictment as Jane Doe 5 appears to be Faith A. Rodgers, a Texas woman who has sued Mr. Kelly on charges of sexual battery, false imprisonment and knowingly infecting her with herpes without disclosing it. That suit remains unresolved.
Some of the new charges revolve around Mr. Kelly’s habit of making videotapes of his own sexual activities, some of which escaped his possession. When he realized that tapes involving underage girls could cause him trouble, he and his associates would scramble furiously to recover the videos that had gotten out, according to one of the indictments.
In 2001, he and his business manager, Derrel McDavid, starting paying an acquaintance hundreds of thousands of dollars to track down and collect his tapes, the indictment said. Later, when that acquaintance planned a news conference to announce he had videos showing Mr. Kelly engaging in sexual activity with minors, Mr. Kelly, Mr. McDavid and others paid the person $170,000 to cancel it. They also agreed to pay one of the underage girls $350,000 to return tapes, but also had her take a polygraph test to affirm she was returning all the copies she had, according to the indictment.
Mr. McDavid, appearing in federal court in Chicago on Friday dressed in black, pleaded not guilty to four counts, including receiving child pornography and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Another of Mr. Kelly’s employees, Milton Brown, was charged with one count of conspiracy to receive child pornography. He was expected to surrender next week and has not yet entered a plea.
The most notorious of the tapes was the focus of Mr. Kelly’s first arrest, in 2002. That case dragged on for six years before finally going to trial, with Mr. Kelly sliding past the gruesome headlines to release hit after hit.
Throughout that time, and as recently as 2015, according to one of the indictments, he was paying the girl and her family to keep quiet or to lie to investigators and a grand jury. Though the details of the indictments suggested that people once close to R. Kelly were cooperating with the federal investigation, it was not clear whether the girl, now a woman in her 30s, or members of her immediate family were among them.
But during his trial, none of them testified against him, and he was acquitted on all counts.
Robert Chiarito reported from Chicago and Elizabeth A. Harris from New York. William K. Rashbaum and Michael Gold contributed reporting from New York.