Sex trafficking: R Kelly faces 100 years in prison after he’s found guilty of all nine counts
R Kelly, 54, faces 100 years in prison after he is found GUILTY of all nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering: R&B star recruited and sexually abused women, girls and boys over three decades
- Kelly was found guilty of all nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking after nine hours of deliberation and a six-week long trial featuring lurid testimony from 50 witnesses
- Kelly, 54, was accused of running a Chicago-based criminal enterprise that prosecutors say he used to ‘target, groom and exploit girls, boys and women’ for unwanted sex and mental torment
- Witnesses said Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage
- Prosecutors argued that Kelly’s accusers were ‘indoctrinated’ into his world, groomed for sex and kept in line by ‘coercive means of control’ including isolation and cruel disciplinarily measures
- The defense, however, argued that his accusers lied in their testimonies and that Kelly was a ‘sex symbol’ and ‘playboy’ who was being attacked by scorned exes and money-hungry fans
- The singer maintains his innocence and denies any wrongdoing
- Kelly was found guilty of all nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking by a federal jury on Monday during his sex trafficking trial where prosecutors accused the R&B singer of exploiting his stardom over a quarter-century to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex.
A jury of seven men and five women reached the verdict after nine hours of deliberation and a six-week long trial featuring lurid testimony.
He faces up to 100 years in prison – 20 years for racketeering, 10 for each of the sex trafficking convictions. Sentencing is expected to take place on May 4, 2022. Kelly has remained in custody after being denied bail in his New York City case in October 2019.
The jury began deliberating federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges against the superstar on Friday in Brooklyn, after prosecutors and defense attorneys finished their closing arguments.
Prosecutors say Robert Sylvester Kelly, 54, ran a Chicago-based criminal enterprise for nearly three decades and that he used to ‘target, groom and exploit girls, boys and women’ for unwanted sex and mental torment.
The witnesses said Kelly subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. He has denied any wrongdoing.
The acts presented during disturbing testimony included bribery, kidnapping, forced labor rape, druggings, imprisonment and child pornography. Some key allegations from the trial include:
- Assaulting underage victims and knowingly giving them herpes
- Coercing victims into getting abortions after impregnating them
- Slapping, choking, spitting at and urinating on his victims
- Recording sexual encounters with his underage accusers, creating child porn
- Subjecting his victims to cruel punishments – such as beatings or locking them in rooms without access to food, water or a bathroom – when they disobeyed his rules
- Forcing his victims to write letters denying allegations of abuse against him
- Threatening his accusers and their families if they attempted to leave him or press charges
- His illegal marriage to singer Aaliyah, which involved obtaining a fake ID for the then-15-year-old so the nuptials could be performed. Mailonline
