R. Kelly Accused Of Plotting To Blackmail Alleged Victims, Threatened To Hurt Their Families
By Ryan Naumann on October 7, 2019 at 8:47 AM EDT
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R. Kelly is being accused of intimidating his alleged victims with threatening handwritten letters, along with plotting to blackmail the women.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, prosecutors recently laid out their case against Kelly being released on bond. The alleged child sex predator has been trying to get out for months. He argued he was not a flight risk and posed no threat if released.
In court documents, prosecutors took issue with his claim he posed no threat. They accuse him of having a history of trying to silence alleged victims.
The Blast
They claim Kelly, “sent a typewritten letter to a lawyer then representing Jane Doe #5, threatening to release compromising and potentially embarrassing photographs of Jane Doe #5 if she pursued her civil lawsuit against the defendant.”
Further, “The letter sent, which was provided to the defense as part of the government’s discovery includes certain photographs and screen shots of text message exchanges between the defendant and Jane Doe #5 taken from the defendant’s phone.”
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Prosecutors continue, “The defendant cannot credibly deny his role in intimidating witnesses by claiming, self-servingly, that he could not have written the letter due to his allegedly limited reading and writing skills where he provided the material used to make the threats and signed his name to the accompanying documents.”
During their investigation, prosecutors spoke to multiple women who gave evidence that Kelly, “has a history of coercing women to write letters containing false and embarrassing allegations, so that the defendant could use those letters as blackmail. Multiple witnesses have reported that the defendant directed them to write these embarrassing and false letters and the similarities among the accounts by multiple witnesses lends credence to their accounts.”
The Blast
They have witnesses who claim Kelly, “issued veiled threats designed to prevent witnesses from testifying against him. Specifically, with respect to multiple women, he directed the women, prospective witnesses against him, to pick a side, and strongly implied that choosing the wrong side - i.e., not his side - would result in harm to them or their families.”
Prosecutors also have records showing Kelly paid off a young woman who accused him of criminal behavior. They write, “Finally, the government has obtained records showing that, in at least one instance, a young woman reported to law enforcement criminal behavior by the defendant, and the defendant thereafter paid the woman hundreds of thousands of dollars to enter into a non-disclosure agreement thereby deterring future cooperation with law enforcement. Evidence supporting this allegation consists of police records documenting criminal allegations and bank records documenting the ensuing payoff.”
The Blast
They also accused the singer of hiding hundreds of thousands in music royalties. They believe he redirected his payments to a childhood friend’s bank account.
The prosecutors said in court, “the defendant’s contention that he has “almost no financial resources” is also misleading.”
They continued, “In fact, the defendant continues to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in connection with royalties he is owed for his music. The government’s investigation has revealed that earlier this year, the defendant re-directed those royalties to the bank account of a childhood friend. Regardless of where those funds are being held, however, they belong to the defendant and, at any time, the defendant can redirect those funds - and future royalty proceeds earned - to an account in his name.”
Prosecutors used this information in court to shut down Kelly’s attempt to be released from jail. Kelly argued for release and used his two girlfriends in his argument. At a hearing, the judge sided with prosecutors and denied his release.
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Kelly has been locked up in Chicago’s downtown Metropolitan Correctional Center after he was arrested by Homeland Security agents and NYPD detectives.
The R&B star is facing a maximum prison sentence of 195 years in Chicago for alleged crimes against 10 different victims.
His lawyer has been trying to get him out on bond but has not been successful.
He argued Kelly was not a flight risk and promised his client would not talk to young girls while out. He also promised to wear a GPS monitoring device. The judge wasn’t swayed.
Kelly has even complained about being placed in solitary confinement and not being able to buy snacks. Prosecutors trashed the singer saying he was never put in solitary and he had refused to pick a cellmate.
