R Kelly

2022 - 6 - 30

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Image courtesy of "NPR"

R. Kelly is sentenced to 30 years in prison (NPR)

The R&B star was convicted in New York last year of sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, sex trafficking and racketeering.

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Image courtesy of "The Guardian"

'You destroyed so many lives': R Kelly victims give emotional ... (The Guardian)

In a series of heart-rending speeches, victims delivered testimony about the impact his crimes had on their lives.

“I do want to ask you, Mr Kelly, to look at me, man to man, father to father. Another women, called Faith, spoke with her father at her side.“I hope you forgive yourself. A woman called Angela spoke in a firm voice and looked straight at Kelly as she described him as a “Pied Piper” figure who preyed on children using his fame and wealth. Angela said her moment in court and seeing him sentenced was about reclaiming the identities of his victims. Addie fought off tears as she read her impact statement and described meeting the singer at a concert where he sexually assaulted her. “With every addition of a new victim, you grew in wickedness,” she said.

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Image courtesy of "RNZ"

R. Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison in sex case (RNZ)

R Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison following the R&B singer's conviction for exploiting his stardom and wealth over decades to lure women and ...

He also faces various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota. "I never thought that I would be here to see him be held accountable for the atrocious things that he did to children," Lizzette Martinez, one of the accusers who spoke in court, told reporters after the hearing. "This is a significant outcome for all victims of R Kelly and especially for the survivors who so bravely testified about the horrific and sadistic abuse they endured," Breon Peace, the top federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, told reporters after the hearing. "This case is not about sex. These included needing his permission go to the bathroom, calling him "Daddy," and writing "apology letters" that purported to absolve Kelly of wrongdoing, among others. After the sentence was read, his lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, told reporters Kelly was "devastated" by the sentence but that he would appeal.

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Image courtesy of "New Zealand Herald"

R Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison (New Zealand Herald)

The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer and songwriter was convicted last year of racketeering and sex trafficking at a trial that gave voice to ...

Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time. The women who spoke at Kelly's sentencing were identified only by first names or pseudonyms. Allegations that Kelly abused young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. Kelly, 55, didn't speak at his sentencing, where he also was ordered to pay a US$100,000 fine. It's a case about violence, cruelty and control," US District Judge Ann Donnelly told him. He didn't testify at his trial, but his then-lawyers portrayed his accusers as girlfriends and groupies who weren't forced to do anything against their will and stayed with him because they enjoyed the perks of his lifestyle. He was sued in 1997 by a woman who alleged sexual battery and sexual harassment while she was a minor, and he later faced criminal child pornography charges related to a different girl in Chicago. A jury there acquitted him in 2008, and he settled the lawsuit. 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. 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. "You made me do things that broke my spirit. The sentence caps a slow-motion fall for Kelly, who was adored by legions of fans and sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling singer and songwriter was convicted last year of racketeering and sex trafficking at a trial that gave voice to accusers who had previously wondered if their stories were being ignored because they were black women.

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Image courtesy of "Stuff.co.nz"

R. Kelly timeline: A downfall three decades in the making (Stuff.co.nz)

R Kelly's musical accomplishments have been accompanied by a long history of allegations that he sexually abused women and children.

A separate indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York included charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and the sexual exploitation of a child. If you or someone you know is in a dangerous situation, click the Shielded icon at the bottom of this website to contact Women's Refuge in a safe and anonymous way without it being traced in your browser history. – March 6, 2019: CBS airs interview in which Kelly vehemently denied the sexual abuse charges against him. – March 21, 2012: Kelly announced he is reviving his video series, Trapped in the Closet. The project begins as five videos for his dramatic cliffhanger songs in 2007, and eventually grows to several dozen musical chapters dealing with a web of sexual deceit. – July 17, 2017: BuzzFeed reports on parents’ claims that Kelly brainwashed their daughters and was keeping them in an abusive “cult.” One woman says she was with Kelly willingly. – Jan. 3, 2019: Lifetime airs the documentary Surviving R. Kelly, which revisited old allegations against him and brought new ones into the spotlight. – November 1996: R. Kelly releases his third album, R. Kelly. A month later, he incorporates Rockland Records. His song I Believe I Can Fly, from the Space Jam soundtrack, peaks at No. 2 on the Billboard pop chart. At the time, the girl and her parents denies she was having sex with Kelly. A jury found Kelly guilty in September of sex trafficking charges. A spokesman claims the singer is not having financial trouble. Music executive Wayne Williams of Jive Records discovers Kelly singing at a barbecue that summer. R Kelly's musical accomplishments have been accompanied by a long history of allegations that he sexually abused women and children.

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Image courtesy of "1 News"

R Kelly's survivors speak of pride after his sentencing (1 News)

R'n'B superstar R Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years behind bars on sex trafficking and racketeering charges after a New York trial revealing allegations ...

But it wasn't until a 2019 documentary detailed the allegations that investigators took another look. "I stand here very proud of my judicial system, very proud of my fellow survivors, and very pleased with the outcome: 30 years did he do this, and 30 years is what he got." "I never thought that I would be here to see him be held accountable for the atrocious things that he did to children," she said.

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Image courtesy of "The Washington Post"

R. Kelly to be sentenced Wednesday. Here's what you need to know. (The Washington Post)

Nine months after his convictions on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, disgraced R&B singer R. Kelly will be sentenced to up to life in prison on ...

He pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2020. Kelly also owes money to the IRS and is behind on child-support payments. More than $1 million of the royalties were seized in 2020 by his former landlord, Midwest Commercial Funding, after he stopped paying rent on his Chicago studio. However, the money has been promised to a line of collectors, according to an Illinois appeals court document. For example, witnesses testified that the ’90s hitmaker fraudulently married R&B singer Aaliyah, who was 15 and believed to be pregnant at the time, by bribing a government official to give her a fake ID that claimed she was an adult. Kelley faces between 10 years, which is the mandatory minimum sentencing, to life in prison for racketeering and sex trafficking.

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Image courtesy of "Financial Times"

R&B singer R Kelly sentenced to 30 years in prison (Financial Times)

Recording artist was convicted last year of nine charges related to sex trafficking and racketeering.

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Image courtesy of "Rolling Stone"

'I Feel Heard. And Believed': Read R. Kelly Survivor Kitti Jones ... (Rolling Stone)

Kitti Jones in 2019 in Santa Monica, California. Amy Sussman/Getty Images. “Many have been waiting for this day to come.” Kitti Jones entered a Brooklyn ...

Your honor, my hope is that the amount of time being asked by the prosecutors is given, considering the long list of survivors and our families and the many lives that have been affected and forever changed. I’ve had therapy and counseling to cope with my time living with him and learned how not to blame myself. I vowed to never speak on my time with him or tell his darkest secrets; I planned to take the things he had done to me to my grave. I got wind that he was doing to others what he had done to me and I panicked at the thought of someone much younger than me having to experience those things, and the emotional and mental impact it would have years later. After I left his home at the end of 2013, I still had the mindset to never tell. I no longer wanted to give Robert Kelly the luxury of my silence, so I decided not to be anonymous.

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Image courtesy of "CNN"

R. Kelly to be sentenced on racketeering, sex trafficking charges ... (CNN)

As R. Kelly faces decades in prison for sex trafficking charges, newly unsealed court documents reveal graphic details about the R&B singer's own childhood ...

"I'm a grown woman, and can speak for myself which is why I wanted to provide this letter to the court." CNN has reached out to an attorney for Kelly for comment. "Typically after a trial, it's tougher for a defendant to get his recommended sentencing range," Honig said. Prosecutors believe a voice narrating the video is Gunn's, and he says, "That's where they at. His earliest memories were watching his mom perform as a singer in a band called "Six Pack," and he would often accompany her to McDonald's where she would drink coffee and they would share a pastry. He had never met his father and described his mother's death as the most tragic event of his life, saying he would go to McDonald's frequently to smell the coffee and remember her, according to a letter filed by Renee Sorrentino, a clinical assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.

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