Feds Lodge More Charges Against R Kelly

R Kelly

Singer R. Kelly, already charged with sexual assault in Illinois, was indicted in federal courts in New York and Chicago on Friday with transporting women and girls across state lines for sex, forcibly keeping them under his control and buying their silence, reports Reuters.

In indictments unsealed in Brooklyn and Chicago, federal prosecutors said Kelly, 52, ran a racketeering and human trafficking scheme that required the women and girls to be obedient, call him “Daddy” and ask permission to eat or use the bathroom.

“The purposes of the enterprise were to promote R. Kelly’s music and the R. Kelly brand and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly,” prosecutors said in the Brooklyn indictment.

Kelly, who was free on bond in the Illinois state case, was taken into custody again by New York City police detectives and federal agents on Thursday evening as he walked his dog in Chicago his lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said.

The R&B singer made a brief court appearance in U.S. District Court in Chicago on Friday and was ordered back on Monday for further proceedings. Kelly, who was handcuffed and wearing orange jail garb, spoke only to reply “yes, your honor” to the magistrate judge.

Brooklyn prosecutors urged in a court filing that Kelly be held without bond on the federal charges while they seek to have him sent to New York for a hearing that has yet to be scheduled.

The five-count Brooklyn racketeering indictment includes multiple allegations going back to 1999, including sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping and forced labor.

Under the alleged scheme, Kelly and his entourage would invite women and girls backstage after concerts, isolate them from friends and family, and make them dependent on him for their financial well-being.

Chicago prosecutors charged in their 13-count indictment that Kelly had sexual contact with five minors, recorded videos of some of them and paid them off to buy their silence.

Prosecutors said Kelly paid an unidentified individual $170,000 to cancel a news conference in which that person planned to announce he had tapes of Kelly engaging in sexual activity with minors.

He has denied abuse accusations for decades.