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R. Kelly Has Been Found Guilty Of Federal Crimes After 11 Sexual Abuse Victims Testified Against Him
Kelly’s abuse of young victims was an open secret for decades, and prosecutors said it amounted to a criminal “enterprise.”
BROOKLYN, New York — R. Kelly, the R&B singer who for more than 25 years faced accusations of sexually abusing dozens of young victims without consequence, was found guilty of federal crimes on Monday.
For over a month, Kelly has been on trial in Brooklyn federal court on one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, a federal law addressing sex trafficking. Federal prosecutors accused Kelly of running an “enterprise” through which he exploited his star power time and time again to prey on underage girls, young women, and at least two male victims.
Jurors deliberated for just nine hours to reach their verdict, finding Kelly guilty on all counts. He now faces decades in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced May 4, 2022.
The federal charges against Kelly came after BuzzFeed News in 2017 published an investigation by Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis revealing that parents had told police that the singer was allegedly holding their daughters against their will in a “sex cult.” In January 2019, the documentary Surviving R. Kelly further detailed their allegations and those of multiple women who said Kelly had abused them, once again raising questions about how Kelly had escaped accountability.
At trial, the government laid out an expansive, detailed case to prove Kelly’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, bringing hundreds of pieces of evidence and 45 witnesses, 11 of whom were his victims. They testified, at times through tears, about how Kelly sexually, emotionally, physically, and verbally abused them, some for years. He was directly charged for crimes related to just six women — including Aaliyah, the late R&B singer Kelly married when she was 15 — but the government used evidence that he’d abused others to argue that the scope of Kelly’s actions amounted to racketeering.
"It is time to hold the defendant responsible for the pain that he inflicted on each of his victims: Aaliyah, Stephanie, Sonja, Jerhonda, Jane, and Faith," Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said in her closing argument, naming each of the women Kelly was charged with abusing.
"It is now time for the defendant, Robert Kelly, to pay for his crimes,” she continued. “Convict him."
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/r-kelly-guilty-federal-trial-verdict
Kelly’s abuse of young victims was an open secret for decades, and prosecutors said it amounted to a criminal “enterprise.”
BROOKLYN, New York — R. Kelly, the R&B singer who for more than 25 years faced accusations of sexually abusing dozens of young victims without consequence, was found guilty of federal crimes on Monday.
For over a month, Kelly has been on trial in Brooklyn federal court on one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, a federal law addressing sex trafficking. Federal prosecutors accused Kelly of running an “enterprise” through which he exploited his star power time and time again to prey on underage girls, young women, and at least two male victims.
Jurors deliberated for just nine hours to reach their verdict, finding Kelly guilty on all counts. He now faces decades in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced May 4, 2022.
The federal charges against Kelly came after BuzzFeed News in 2017 published an investigation by Chicago journalist Jim DeRogatis revealing that parents had told police that the singer was allegedly holding their daughters against their will in a “sex cult.” In January 2019, the documentary Surviving R. Kelly further detailed their allegations and those of multiple women who said Kelly had abused them, once again raising questions about how Kelly had escaped accountability.
At trial, the government laid out an expansive, detailed case to prove Kelly’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, bringing hundreds of pieces of evidence and 45 witnesses, 11 of whom were his victims. They testified, at times through tears, about how Kelly sexually, emotionally, physically, and verbally abused them, some for years. He was directly charged for crimes related to just six women — including Aaliyah, the late R&B singer Kelly married when she was 15 — but the government used evidence that he’d abused others to argue that the scope of Kelly’s actions amounted to racketeering.
"It is time to hold the defendant responsible for the pain that he inflicted on each of his victims: Aaliyah, Stephanie, Sonja, Jerhonda, Jane, and Faith," Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes said in her closing argument, naming each of the women Kelly was charged with abusing.
"It is now time for the defendant, Robert Kelly, to pay for his crimes,” she continued. “Convict him."
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/juliareinstein/r-kelly-guilty-federal-trial-verdict
