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Agence France-Presse

R&B superstar R Kelly has been arrested on suspicion of having sex with five underage girls, recording some of it on video and then attempting to hide the evidence, US prosecutors said Friday.
A 13-count indictment returned on Thursday in Chicago also alleged the 52-year-old singer intimidated victims and concealed evidence in a 2008 trial that ended in his acquittal of child pornography charges.
The latest charges include receiving and producing child pornography, enticing a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity and obstruction of justice.
A separate federal indictment unsealed in New York on Thursday accused Kelly of recruiting women and girls for sex.
Singer R. Kelly faces 11 charges of sexual assault and abuse
Federal agents arrested the Grammy Award winner on Thursday night while he walked his dog in Chicago, his lawyer Steve Greenberg said in a statement.
Two former employees of his music business – Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown – also were charged in the case.
The Chicago indictment alleges Kelly met the five victims in the 1990s and had sex with them when they were under age 18, “creating numerous explicit videos with four of them”, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
According to the indictment, Kelly and McDavid began paying an acquaintance hundreds of thousands of dollars in 2001 to collect the videos in an effort to hide evidence.

When the unidentified acquaintance planned to go public with the videos, the indictment alleges, Kelly, McDavid and others paid him US$170,000 to cancel the event.
Kelly, whose legal name is Robert Kelly, was already facing Illinois state felony charges of aggravated sexual assault, and was out on bail at the time of his arrest.
“The conduct alleged appears to largely be the same as the conduct previously alleged against Mr Kelly in his current state indictment and the former state charges that he was acquitted of,” Kelly’s lawyer Greenberg said.
“Most, if not all, of the conduct alleged is decades old,” he added.
Why the music biz kept supporting R. Kelly after sex abuse allegations
Darrell Johnson, a publicist for Kelly, delivered a statement at a chaotic news conference in Atlanta on Friday morning, saying that the singer was currently being held in Cook County, Illinois. He is expected to be arraigned in Chicago federal court on Tuesday afternoon.
The news conference was interrupted seconds after it began, when the family of Joycelyn Savage, a woman who lived with Kelly in Chicago, confronted Johnson and pleaded to speak with their daughter.
The publicist insisted he had “nothing to do” with Savage and that she was not being held.
Kelly has a decades-long history of abuse allegations, especially of underage girls. In 1994 he wed his protégé Aaliyah, the late R&B star who was 15 at the time.
Whether they’re old rumours, new rumours, future rumours, not true

Kelly, then 27, had produced the teenage singer’s debut album titled Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. Their marriage was later annulled, and Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001.
Despite unsettling claims against him, the decorated musician – known for hits including “I Believe I Can Fly” – has continued to perform and maintain a solid fan base.
But his fortunes began to shift after the January release of a six-part documentary called Surviving R. Kelly.
The documentary, which alleged that Kelly engaged in sexual, mental and physical abuse of girls and women, prompted Chicago prosecutors to publicly seek out potential victims.
R. Kelly’s two girlfriends say they aren’t brainwashed, defending singer
After the state charges were filed in February, Kelly spent three nights behind bars and was released after coming up with US$100,000, a tenth of the US$1 million bail set in court.
The sex acts are alleged to have occurred between May 1998 and January 2010, according to prosecutors.
If convicted of the most serious charges in that case, Kelly would face mandatory sentences of six to 30 years in prison on each count. The latest federal charges carry sentences that range from five to 20 years.
In a March interview, Kelly vehemently denied the charges and said he was “fighting” for his life.
“I didn’t do this stuff,” he told CBS News.
‘I’m not Lucifer’: R. Kelly explodes during first interview after arrest
“Whether they’re old rumours, new rumours, future rumours, not true,” added Kelly, who became upset and emotional during the interview.
He denied a report by BuzzFeed in 2017 that said he had kept women as virtual sex slaves at homes he owns in Chicago and Atlanta.
Kelly was also briefly detained in March for failing to pay US$161,000 in child support payments he owed to his ex-wife and their three children.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Sexual harassment and assault

R&B singer R Kelly arrested in Chicago on 13 federal sex crime charges

Musician R Kelly departs the Leighton Criminal Court building after pleading not guilty to 11 additional sex-related charges in Chicago. Photo: AP

FILE - In this June 26, 2019, file photo, Musician R. Kelly departs from the Leighton Criminal Court building after a status hearing in his criminal sexual abuse trial in Chicago. Lawyers for Kelly are asking a judge in Chicago to fine and jail his ex-wife for breaking a confidentiality clause in their divorce agreement. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Kelly's attorney Steve Greenberg said in a Tuesday, July 2, 2019, filing that Andrea Kelly appeared "on countless media outlets disparaging Robert Kelly and making accusations and charges." (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)

‘Everything is against him’: Singer R. Kelly pleads not guilty to 11 more sex-related charges

R. Kelly pleaded not guilty to a new indictment before Judge Lawrence Flood at Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. Photo: TNS

Steve Greenberg, R. Kelly's defense attorney, smiles as he responds to a question after Kelly pleaded not guilty on 11 new sex-related felonies Thursday, June 6, 2019, in Chicago. Thursday's hearing comes a week after prosecutors announced the new counts, including four of aggravated criminal sexual assault. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

TOPSHOT - Singer R. Kelly leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building after a hearing on sexual abuse charges on June 6, 2019, in Chicago. - Chicago prosecutors on Thursday filed 11 felony sex crime charges against Kelly, in what his lawyer said was a refiling of counts from an existing case. Robert Kelly, 52, is already facing 10 felony counts, filed in February, for the alleged abuse of four women. (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / AFP)

Singer R. Kelly faces 11 charges of sexual assault and abuse

R. Kelly leaving after an appearance in court for Kelly’s child support case in Chicago in March. Photo: Chicago Sun-Times via AP

R. Kelly gives 28-second performance at Illinois club to fans who paid up to US$100 per ticket

R. Kelly appears in court on March 22 for a hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago, Illinois. Photo: AP

News

World

United States & Canada

Grammy winner had sex with five underage girls and recorded some of it, prosecutors allege
New indictment says Kelly intimidated victims and concealed evidence in 2008 trial that ended in his acquittal of child pornography charges


Grammy winner allegedly had sex with five underage girls, recorded some of it and attempted to hide the evidence, prosecutors say.


United States

Fame and celebrity

R&B singer R Kelly arrested in Chicago on 13 federal sex crime charges

Grammy winner had sex with five underage girls and recorded some of it, prosecutors allege New indictment says Kelly intimidated victims and concealed evidence in 2008 trial that ended in his acquittal of child pornography charges

Grammy winner had sex with five underage girls and recorded some of it, prosecutors allege

New indictment says Kelly intimidated victims and concealed evidence in 2008 trial that ended in his acquittal of child pornography charges