Welp.
On Tuesday in a Chicago federal court, U.S. District Harry Leinenweber ordered Robert “R.” Kelly to be held without bond in relation to federal charges on sex crimes involving children as well as alleged obstruction of justice, ABC Chicago reports. The charges stem from Kelly allegedly paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for child-sex tapes and pressuring witnesses to amend their stories preceding his 2008 child pornography trial, per the Chicago Tribune. Kelly pleaded not guilty to the charges.
As such, Kelly will be held in New York, where is is facing a separate indictment in connection with racketeering sex trafficking underage girls across the U.S.
As the Chicago Tribune reports:
Kelly’s long legal saga took its latest dramatic turn Friday when federal indictments against him were made public in Brooklyn and Chicago, charging a sweeping scheme by Kelly and those around him to groom and sexually exploit young girls and then cover it up.
The dual indictments are the most serious blows yet to the onetime superstar, who was arrested in downtown Chicago late Thursday as he walked his dog near his residence at Trump Tower.
The Chicago indictment alleged that Kelly paid his former manager, Derrel McDavid, and a former employee, Milton “June” Brown, to help him cover up his sexual transgressions. Both were also charged, but it is the New York case that now casts the biggest shadow on Kelly’s future. That indictment, unsealed at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, alleges a racketeering conspiracy in which Kelly and his associates recruited women and underage girls for illegal sexual contact with the singer, then isolated them and threatened them to keep them under his control.
While Kelly’s attorney Steven Greenberg argued his client didn’t pose any danger to the public during the Tuesday hearing, federal prosecutors dubbed the 52-year-old singer as an “extreme danger,” noting they have three videos that show the “sadomasochistic abuse” of a 14-year-old girl.
Kelly’s girlfriends, Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, reportedly appeared at the hearing, according to CBS News Correspondent Adriana Diaz.
Additionally, the Chicago Tribune reports Kelly’s previously sealed divorce filing documents were released to the public on Tuesday. The documents are in relation to his former marriage to Andrea Kelly and show a decade-long financial battle between the ex-couple over unpaid child support.