US R&B star, R. Kelly, also known Robert Sylvester Kelly, has been accused of new abuse allegations, including the claim that he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy.
New York prosecutors filed a 55-page motion seeking permission to admit new evidence in R. Kelly’s trial. The filing alleges that R. Kelly bribed officials for information and sexually abused underage boys.
That notwithstanding, the R&B singer, R. Kelly is set to face trial on August 9th in a federal court in New York. He faces racketeering charges for allegedly running an elaborate criminal enterprise to kidnaps and sexually exploits young women.
The original New York indictment from March 2020 suggested that he had abused six victims. The latest court filing now reveals two more victims, Jane Doe and John Doe according to local media outlet.
Details of the allegations against R.Kelly
One of the new allegations made by prosecutors is that in 2006 R. Kelly began a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy he met at a McDonald’s in Chicago.
According to the filing, the boy introduced Kelly to a second teenage boy aged 16, with who Kelly also had a sexual relationship with. Prosecutors allege that the singer forced the second boy to have sex with others, which he often videotaped.
In the complaint, prosecutors added that they have a witness who claims Kelly made her download child pornography involving boys.
Prosecutors also allege that in 2019 R. Kelly bribed a Cook County clerk in Illinois in an attempt to gain information about his legal case following the release of the documentary series ‘Surviving R. Kelly’.
The document cites an audio recording of a phone call between Kelly and his “crisis manager”. They discussed bribing the clerk with 2,500 dollars and providing them with a burner phone to relay information back to Kelly’s team.
Prosecutors want to introduce fresh evidence
Prosecutors also want to introduce evidence that in 1994, R. Kelly bribed an Illinois state employee with 500 dollars to create a fake ID for the underage singer Aaliyah so that he could marry her.
The court filing alleges that Kelly believed he had impregnated Aaliyah, then 15, and wanted to marry her, so she could not be made to testify against him in court. Aaliyah however died in a plane crash in 2001.
Prosecutors also want to play videos and audio recordings for the jury to show Kelly physically and verbally abused women.
Other allegations in the filing include unlawful imprisonment, hush-money payments, and physical abuse.
In addition to the New York trial, Kelly also faces charges of possessing child pornography and obstructing federal agents by bribing his victims in a separate case in Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago trial is currently scheduled for September.
Meanwhile, R. Kelly remains in prison in Brooklyn and has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
It can be recalled that the singer was held in custody in July 2019 for sex trafficking. There were thirteen charges leveled against him including child abuse and obstruction of the law.
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