In prison since 2019, R. Kelly was tried in August 2021 for extortion, sexual exploitation of minors, kidnapping, corruption and forced labor. Facts that would have taken place between 1994 and 2018. He had been found guilty in September. The prosecutors had asked for no less than 25 years in prison because of the seriousness of the acts committed.
They have been heard since the famous interpreter of the tube I Believe I Can Fly has just been sentenced to 30 years in prison when he was facing life imprisonment. While in federal court in Brooklyn, Judge Ann M. Donnelly announced her sentence, ending one of the most publicized trials in the United States, not to mention that of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. . R.Kelly, who has always denied the facts, was described by the American prosecution as “impudent, manipulative, controlling and coercive, showing no sign of remorse or respect for the law”.
A sexual exploitation network
The R’n’B singer is said to have led a network that recruited and prepared young girls to have sex with him. Worse still, they found themselves locked in their hotel rooms when the singer was on tour and had to stay there. He also allegedly ordered his victims to call him “daddy”.
Six women were the main accusers reports The Parisian, some of whom claimed to have been drugged to be raped, forced to have abortions and infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Note that the singer had married the singer Aaliyah in the 90s, who has since died in a plane crash, when she was only fifteen years old. He was accused of having bribed an official of the State of Illinois in 1994 in order to obtain false documents in order to marry the minor.
For lawyer Gloria Allred, who represents three of the six plaintiffs, this verdict should serve as an example for celebrities who use their “notoriety to turn their fans into prey“.