R. Kelly Has Been Found Guilty Of Sex Trafficking And Racketeering
The disgraced singer is now facing decades behind bars.
R. Kelly is facing decades in prison after being found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in a New York court yesterday.
A jury of seven men and five women began deliberations last Friday, after closing arguments from prosecutors and defence attorneys. The singer, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, was facing charges of racketeering, bribery, and violating the Mann Act, which criminalises transportation of women across state lines for “immoral purposes”. Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The trial, which kicked off six weeks ago, saw 50 witnesses called to testify, as reported by The Chicago Tribune. The jury deliberated for nine hours in total before convicting Kelly of all charges on Monday, September 27 — one count of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking. According to the Tribune, the singer faces anywhere from 10 years to life in prison.
“Today’s verdict forever brands R. Kelly as a predator who used his fame and fortune to prey on the young, the vulnerable and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification,” said acting US Attorney Jacquelyn M. Kasulis outside the court. “A predator who used his inner circle to ensnare underage girls and men and women for decades in a sordid web of sex abuse, degradation and humiliation.
“To the victims in this case, your voices were heard, and justice was finally served.”
Kelly is due to be sentenced on May 4, 2022. He still has to face federal charges in Chicago on child pornography and obstruction, and additional state charges in Minnesota and Illinois.
Throughout his career, Kelly has been accused multiple times of pedophilia and in recent years has been accused of running a ‘sex cult’ where he held multiple women, potentially against their will, at his homes in Atlanta and Chicago. Kelly has consistently denied all allegations; in a televised interview in March 2019, he called them a character assassination, yelling at interviewer Gayle King he was being “buried alive”.
In January 2019, an explosive six-part documentary series Surviving R. Kelly aired in the US detailing the many allegations levelled against the singer — you can read a recap of them here.
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