Jurors convict R Kelly of racketeering and sex trafficking
Jurors have found R. Kelly guilty of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking after a trial in which prosecutors accused the R&B singer of exploiting his stardom over a quarter century to lure women and underage girls into his orbit for sex.
The jury of five women and seven men reached the verdict on Monday during their second day of deliberations.
The charges were based on an argument that the entourage of managers and aides who helped the singer meet girls â€" and keep them obedient and quiet â€" amounted to a criminal enterprise.
Kelly, 54, had been on trial in Brooklyn Federal Court since Aug. 18, facing allegations from as far back as the mid-1990s.
The singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly and is perhaps best known musically for his 1996 Grammy-winning song I Believe I Can Fly, had pleaded not guilty to the charges of racketeering and of violating a federal law making it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.
Prosecutors spent four and a half weeks offering testimony from several accusers, including women who claim they were underage when Kelly abused them, and people who worked for the singer.
They had sought to present Kelly as an intemperate predator who used his fame to attract admirers he would later coerce into unwanted sex.
Several witnesses said Kelly also punished victims for breaking his rigid rules governing such banalities as when to eat or go to the bathroom, or who to look at or speak with.
Four witnesses testified for Kelly in his defence in an effort to show jurors that people Kelly employed knew nothing of his alleged abuses.
Though Kelly has been dogged by abuse accusations for nearly two decades, his music career stalled only after scrutiny increased during the #MeToo movement, and after Lifetime aired the documentary Surviving R. Kelly in January 2019.
Kelly has been jailed for more than two years, and also faces sex-related charges in Illinois and Minnesota.
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