News

Even More Charges Were Just Filed Against R Kelly. This Time in Minnesota.

Here are all of the accusations against the 52-year-old R&B artist
Even More Charges Were Just Filed Against R Kelly. This Time in Minnesota.

Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox? Sign up here.

The charges against R. Kelly just keep piling up, with Minnesota now the third state where he’s facing accusations of sex crimes. The 52-year-old R&B artist, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, already faces criminal charges involving sex with underage girls in Illinois and New York.

Here are all of the accusations against the Grammy Award–winning singer, who’s been in federal prison without bail since his July 12 arrest.

Advertisement

Minnesota

Kelly was slapped with two more sexual assault charges on Monday, including soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2001. The alleged victim, 17 at the time, first met Kelly when she was trying to get his autograph at a concert. He allegedly invited her to his suite and paid her $200 to dance nude for him, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.

The unnamed woman, now in her 30s, first reached out in January to a tip line set up after the docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” aired on Lifetime, according to the New York Times. But his defense team has already hinted they’ll try to undercut the accuser’s claims as a case of "groupie remorse," according to USA Today.

These felony charges each carry a possible five-year sentence, according to the music site NME.

Illinois

Kelly was hit with 13 federal charges from an indictment served in Illinois on July 10. He pleaded not guilty to criminal allegations in a federal courtroom in Chicago on July 16, one involving him paying thousands of dollars to retrieve tapes of him having sex with underage girls.

In addition to federal charges, Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse on the state level in Cook County, as outlined in a February 22 indictment. Of the four victims, three are minors ranging in age from 13 to 16, according to court documents. These charges only carried a three-to-seven-year sentence.

Advertisement

But on May 30, Cook County prosecutors slammed the singer with 11 more charges that could put him away for over 100 years, and they reportedly only pertain to a single victim. Four of the new counts include aggravated criminal sexual assault, carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years each.

New York

After his lawyers briefly lost him during a transfer flight from Chicago to New York last week, R. Kelly appeared for his arraignment on Aug. 2 and pleaded not guilty to five federal criminal charges brought against him by New York prosecutors. (His two live-in girlfriends were right there with him.)

The New York charges include one count of racketeering, which has a 20-year maximum sentence. According to the Brooklyn federal court filing, prosecutors accuse Kelly of leading a criminal enterprise where he took advantage of women and girls to bolster his career.

Kelly’s also charged with four counts of violating the Mann Act in New York, a law that prohibits the transfer of people for sexual activity across state lines. He faces up to 80 years in jail if he’s convicted on New York charges alone.

In light of the most recent allegations against Kelly coming from yet another state, it’s unclear how his prosecution will unfold. For now, he’s definitely still in federal prison, but it’s not known if he’s locked up in Brooklyn or Chicago.

Cover: In this June 26, 2019, file photo, R. Kelly departs from the Leighton Criminal Court building after a status hearing in his criminal sexual abuse trial in Chicago. Fighting federal child sex crime charges is already proving to be a different experience for Kelly than when he successfully fought child pornography charges in state court. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)