R Kelly

Former R&B star R Kelly is sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his fame to subject young fans — some just children — to systematic sexual abuse.

It's a case about violence, cruelty and control," US District Judge Ann Donnelly told Kelly in court. Kelly 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. "You made me do things that broke my spirit. 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. 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. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, 55, was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking last year at a trial that gave voice to accusers who had once wondered if their stories were being ignored because they were Black women.

The singer-songwriter used his entourage to meet girls and keep them obedient in a systematic scheme of abuse that went on for decades.

She was promised mentorship but quickly ended up “a sex slave,” she said outside court after the sentencing. Witnesses said they were married in matching jogging suits using a license falsely listing her age as 18; he was 27 at the time. Aaliyah worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. Their marriage was later annulled. “But that doesn’t mean that he can accept responsibility in the way that the government would like him to and other people would like him to. Several accusers testified that Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. Widespread outrage over Kelly’s sexual misconduct didn’t come until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.

The sentence was imposed nine months after Kelly, 55, was convicted of racketeering and sex crimes, in a trial that amplified accusations that had dogged the ...

"This case is not about sex. Defence lawyers said Kelly deserved no more than 10 years, the mandatory minimum, arguing that his history as an abused child may have led to his adult "hypersexuality" and that he no longer posed a threat. "This court must distinguish between what is boorish and bad behaviour, and what is criminal conduct," Kelly's lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said prior to the sentencing. Prosecutors had urged a prison sentence of more than 25 years, saying Kelly had demonstrated a "callous disregard" for his victims and shown no remorse. 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. US District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn federal court said the evidence reflected Kelly's "indifference to human suffering" and "sheer brutality" toward his victims.

R. Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in jail, nearly a year after the 55-year-old multiplatinum R&B singer was convicted by a New York jury for ...

His former manager admitted in court to bribing a worker to obtain fake identification allowing the union, which was later annulled. The sentence comes just over a month before jury selection is due to start in Kelly's separate, long-delayed federal trial in Chicago on 15 August. The musician who once dominated R&B also faces prosecution in two other state jurisdictions. Several said they were told he could bolster their music industry aspirations. In that case, Kelly and two of his former associates are alleged to have rigged the singer's 2008 pornography trial and hid years of sexual abuse of minors. "The verdict is in: R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years," the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York said in a tweet.

The R&B singer, 55, had been found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering involving women, girls and boys.

In federal court in Chicago, he is charged with enticement of a minor, possession of child abuse images and obstruction of justice. Kelly’s case attracted attention in light of the #MeToo movement, in which powerful men have been held to account for sexual misconduct and sexual assault. While prosecutors sought a minimum 25-year term, Kelly’s defence pushed for a sentence of 10 years or less. At the trial, victims had described how Kelly, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. “We are no longer the preyed-upon individuals we once were.” You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.”

The fallen singer will likely die behind bars after receiving a huge jail sentence for a series of shocking sex crimes against women and children.

“With every addition of a new victim, you grew in wickedness. Another victim told the court: “You made me do things that broke my spirit. He disagrees with the characterisations that have been made about him”. “You took advantage of their hopes and dreams, holding teenagers in your house trapped. He was also ordered to pay a $US100,000 ($A146,000) fine. Kelly has been held in jail since 2019.

The disgraced rapper R. Kelly may spend the rest of his life in prison, after being sentenced to 30 years for sex trafficking women and children, ...

Fifty five year old Robert Sylvester Kelly was convicted on eight charges of sex trafficking as well as another of racketeering in September 2021. “You took advantage of their hopes and dreams, holding teenagers in your house trapped. Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001.

The sentence was imposed nine months after Kelly, 55, was convicted of racketeering and sex crimes, in a trial that amplified accusations that had dogged the ...

"This case is not about sex. Defence lawyers said Kelly deserved no more than 10 years, the mandatory minimum, arguing that his history as an abused child may have led to his adult "hypersexuality" and that he no longer posed a threat. "This court must distinguish between what is boorish and bad behaviour, and what is criminal conduct," Kelly's lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said prior to the sentencing. Prosecutors had urged a prison sentence of more than 25 years, saying Kelly had demonstrated a "callous disregard" for his victims and shown no remorse. 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. US District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn federal court said the evidence reflected Kelly's "indifference to human suffering" and "sheer brutality" toward his victims.

Accusations against the disgraced R&B star first surfaced in the 1990s. But despite multiple women coming forward, R Kelly's career felt little impact.

Kelly was 27 at the time. Even with the 30 years he got today, he'll be 85 before he gets out. "This happened to me a long time ago. I was 17, I'm 45 today. The repercussions of not believing our sisters, our wives, our daughters have never been starker in America than they are today. "I was an up-and-coming singer. I was a girl full of life. "You made me do things that broke my spirit. "Someone very close to the family told me it was also a message for R Kelly, so today's sentence is in part vindication for the damage he did to Aaliyah," DeRogatis says. Kitti Jones, who featured in the doco-series Surviving R Kelly after dating the singer from 2011 to 2013, also testified, and told reporters the outcome was "a long time coming." "But you have to realise women in general are not believed. "Chicago has a lot to answer for and the United States has a lot to answer for.

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

Jovante Cunningham, an accuser who had appeared in Surviving R. Kelly, said after the sentencing, "There wasn't a day in my life, up until this moment, that I actually believed that the judicial system would come through for Black and brown girls. "Thirty years in prison is like a life sentence for him, but at the same time we knew the government was asking for 25 years. In 2008, he stood trial in his hometown of Chicago for child pornography. From there they would be ensnared in a system of sexual and psychological abuse. Last year, Kelly was found guilty of charges including sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, bribery and sex trafficking. Donnelly acknowledged points made by defense, including that Kelly endured a very difficult childhood, with sexual abuse at the hands of his sister and a landlord. Kelly declined to address the court himself. During the weekslong trial, multiple victims established a pattern where they would see Kelly at a show or out in public, and an associate of Kelly would hand them a phone number to call. We were prepared for what the judge might impose and we are now prepared to fight this appeal." "I'm sorry," she said. "This case is not about sex," the judge said. He was sentenced in New York by federal Judge Ann Donnelly, who spoke at length before issuing the sentence.

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

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.