R. Kelly, also known as Robert Sylvester Kelly, remains imprisoned following the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear his appeal on June 23, as reported by CNN. The singer had attempted to overturn his convictions for racketeering and Mann Act violations, arguing that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was being misapplied in his case.
His legal team claimed that prosecutors were stretching the definition of “enterprise” to include any unlawful activity within a legal organization, which they argued goes beyond the intended purpose of RICO. However, their appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court, and as a result, his convictions—and the accompanying prison sentences—will remain in place. The decision was made after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York upheld his conviction in February following an earlier appeal in May.
As a lifestyle expert, I’d rephrase it like this:
In the years 2022 and 2023, I, R. Kelly, faced trials in Brooklyn and Chicago federal courts respectively. In the former, I was found guilty on nine counts of racketeering and Mann Act violations related to the forced movement and exploitation of women and minors for illicit sexual activities. In the latter, I was convicted on six out of thirteen counts of child pornography production and soliciting a minor for sexual activity. However, I was acquitted on the remaining seven counts.
Currently, I’m serving my sentences at a federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina. According to prison records, my expected release date is December 2045, when I would be 78 years old. For those interested in understanding the chronology of these events, keep reading for more details.
Prior to R. Kelly’s imprisonment, he had been faced with accusations of sexual misconduct. These charges, which surfaced in the 1990s and 2000s during his musical peak, were often dismissed, settled out of court, or resulted in not-guilty verdicts.
Fast forward to 2017, a BuzzFeed News report exposed Kelly’s alleged ‘cult’. Activists Kenyette Barnes and Oronike Odeleye initiated the #MuteRKelly movement in response. In January 2019, Lifetime broadcasted their Peabody Award-winning docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly”, which delved into allegations of physical, mental, and sexual abuse against the artist behind “Ignition”.
Notable figures such as John Legend, Lady Gaga, Chance the Rapper, and others spoke out against him. In contrast, Kelly maintained his innocence. His then-attorney Steve Greenberg asserted in January 2019 that Kelly had been found innocent of any wrongdoing a decade prior, suggesting that recent accusations were merely attempts to sabotage his career by haters.
Later in the same month, it was confirmed that Sony Music had ended its professional relationship with Kelly.
In February 2019, Kelly was accused in Cook County, Illinois, with 10 counts of severe sexual misconduct, nine of which involved a minor aged between 13 and 16. A short while later, he surrendered to the authorities.
Following the charges, he denied any guilt. Later that day, the Grammy winner was freed from custody after the necessary 10% of his $1 million bail was paid.
In March 2019, R&B singer R. Kelly was detained due to unpaid child support amounting to over $161,000 owed to his ex-wife, Andrea Kelly, who is the mother of his three children and has accused him of abuse (which he denies). The Cook County Sheriff’s office released him a few days later after someone paid off the debt anonymously.
At around the same time, R. Kelly spoke with Gayle King in an interview, where he denied all allegations against him, particularly those presented in Surviving R. Kelly. He insisted that he never had sex with an underage girl and claimed ignorance about what a cult is, despite accusations of running one.
Throughout the interview, Kelly maintained his innocence, stating, “I love women… I’m fighting for my life. You all are killing me with this stuff.” During the emotional conversation, he declared, “I didn’t do this stuff… This is not me.
In May 2019, R. Kelly was re-accused on 11 counts, not entirely new charges. These accusations encompassed four counts of severe aggravated sexual assault, two counts of forced sexual assault, and five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Remarkably, three out of the five aggravated criminal sexual abuse counts involved minors aged between 13 and 16 years old at the time.
Kelly made an appearance in Illinois’ Cook County court and pleaded not guilty to these allegations. At that time, his attorney, Greenberg, tweeted, “R. Kelly was NOT given new charges; he was re-accused in an ongoing case, with the same alleged victim and time frame (a decade ago). It doesn’t change anything.
On July 2019, Kelly was taken into custody in Chicago due to federal accusations detailed in a 13-count indictment, which involved charges like child pornography, persuading a minor for illegal sexual activities, and hindering justice.
On the same day, another five-count indictment was presented to a New York federal court in Brooklyn, which contained one charge of racketeering along with four counts of violating the Mann Act by transporting an individual across state lines to New York for illicit sexual activities.
As reported by NBC News, Kelly pleaded not guilty to the Illinois charges soon after and the judge decided he should be kept in custody without bond.
Back in August 2019, I pleaded not guilty to accusations from the New York indictment and was denied bail. But just days later, I found myself embroiled in another legal conflict, this time in Minnesota, charged with two counts of soliciting prostitution involving a minor, as court documents obtained by NBC News confirm.
At that time, my attorney Greenberg tweeted, “Re: New charges @RKelly give me a break,” deeming it beyond absurd.
In a revised indictment filed in New York during December 2019, prosecutors maintained accusations against Kelly involving racketeering and four counts of violating the Mann Act. Additionally, they added a charge of bribery under the racketeering allegation. According to court documents obtained by NBC News, it’s claimed that Kelly bribed a public official in 1994 to obtain a fake ID for an individual known as “Jane Doe #1.” Multiple news outlets, including The New York Times, AP, and NBC News, have reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that “Jane Doe #1” was Aaliyah.
In the December 1994/January 1995 issue of VIBE Magazine, there were published images of a marriage license for a then 27-year-old Kelly and a then 15-year-old Aaliyah (whose age was listed as 18 on the certificate). The marriage was later annulled. Aaliyah passed away in a plane crash in August 2001.
Despite being frequently asked about their relationship, Kelly declined to discuss its specifics. He told GQ in 2016, “Due to Aaliyah’s passing, as I have always said, out of respect for her mother who is ill and her father who has passed away, I will never speak about our relationship with anyone.” He continued, “Out of respect for Aaliyah, and her mother and father who asked me not to personally, I can only say that I loved her, I can only say she loved me, we were very close. We were, you know, best friends.”
Kelly pleaded not guilty to the charges in the New York superseding indictment.
In February 2020, Illinois prosecutors made amendments to their federal accusation against Kelly. The revised indictment contained 13 counts, as reported by CNN, but it also claimed that Kelly had allegedly abused an additional minor, making a total of six victims mentioned in the updated indictment, which was first filed in July 2019.
Greenberg, Kelly’s attorney, told the outlet that the new allegations seemed to be similar to those made previously and that they continued to dispute them. He expressed optimism about Kelly’s court date and anticipated the day when Kelly could be declared not guilty and released.
In March 2020, New York prosecutors also updated their indictment. The original indictment had charged Kelly with five counts, but the new one, obtained by NBC News, included nine counts. These additional charges involved racketeering and violations of the Mann Act in relation to the coercion and transportation of women and girls across state lines for illicit sexual activities.
As before, Kelly’s attorney refuted these allegations. Greenberg tweeted that the new superseding indictment did not significantly alter the situation.
Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges in both updated indictments.
After experiencing delays due to the COVID-19 outbreak and parting with his New York legal team, R. Kelly’s trial in Brooklyn commenced in August 2021. Six weeks afterwards, a federal jury declared him guilty on all nine charges of racketeering and violations of the Mann Act.
In a statement released in September 2021 following the verdict, Jacquelyn Kasulis, then Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, stated, “Today’s guilty verdict labels R. Kelly as a predator who exploited his fame and wealth to abuse the young, vulnerable, and voiceless for his own sexual gratification. This predator used his inner circle to ensnare underage girls, along with young women and men, in a vile network of abuse, manipulation, and degradation for decades. To the victims in this case, your voices have been heard, and justice has finally prevailed. We hope that today’s verdict offers some comfort and closure to the victims.”
Upon learning of the news, R. Kelly’s former lawyer expressed disappointment with the jury’s decision. “We are deeply disappointed by the verdict announced by the New York jury today,” Greenberg said. “Mike Leonard and I believe that the verdict was not substantiated by the evidence and instead represents a response to the hype generated by a few TV shows. We will continue to advocate for R. Kelly, ensuring every possible action is taken on his behalf.
After being found guilty in his New York case, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
After four weeks of Kelly’s trial in mid-August in Chicago, a federal jury declared him guilty on six charges: Three counts of creating child pornography and three counts of encouraging a minor to participate in sexual activities. He was found not guilty on the remaining seven: One charge of child pornography, one charge of conspiring to obstruct justice, one charge of conspiring to receive child pornography, two charges of receiving child pornography, and two charges of encouraging a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity.
In response to this verdict, John R. Lausch, Jr., who was the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois at the time, stated in September 2022 that “Robert Kelly is finally being held accountable for the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl. This verdict helps correct the injustices that occurred during a previous prosecution in Cook County.” He also thanked the victims for their bravery in testifying at the trial.
Regarding the not-guilty verdicts, Lausch added, “While certain aspects of the charges and the trial made it challenging to secure convictions for all of the alleged actions, justice has been served by today’s guilty verdicts.”
As for Kelly’s legal team, his attorney Jennifer Bonjean said, “We’re not entirely celebrating a victory, but we are pleased that the jury truly considered each count.” (per NBC 5 Chicago)
Four years following accusations of severe sexual assault and abuse in Illinois, it was declared that the case against Kelly would be dismissed. Here’s how Kim Foxx, then Cook County State’s Attorney, expressed her thoughts on this matter to NBC News in January 2023:
“I acknowledge the difficulty these victims faced when sharing their experiences. I commend their bravery and hold the highest regard for everyone who came forward. Although this might not be the outcome they hoped for, considering the sentences Kelly is currently serving, we believe justice has been served. My office will now focus our efforts on seeking justice for other sexual abuse victims who may not have the exposure of a documentary to expose their abusers.”
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Kelly’s attorney Bonjean expressed satisfaction with what she considered a prudent exercise of prosecutorial discretion.
She supposedly remarked that it was uncalled for to move forward with these accusations. It seemed more like an excessive pile-on. Mr. Kelly is just one person with a single life, yet he’s already looking at decades behind bars. I struggle to see how this is a wise allocation of the prosecutors’, judge’s, or taxpayers’ resources. However, this statement didn’t alter his federal convictions in Chicago and New York in any way.
In a Chicago court case, Kelly received a 20-year prison term effective from February 2023. Interestingly, 19 out of these 20 years will be served simultaneously with his existing sentence in New York.
The charges against Kelly in Minnesota were dropped because he is already serving a long prison sentence for federal convictions and another trial would cause significant harm to the victim, the community, and the legal system without adding any additional prison time. Kelly’s lawyers were prepared to defend the case but are glad they no longer have to.
In June 2025, a judge refused a set of motions from R. Kelly’s legal team seeking his transfer from the federal prison in Butner, North Carolina to home detention, according to NBC News.
The news emerged just days after Kelly’s attorney, Beau B. Brindley, claimed in a court filing that the musician had been overdosed by prison officials due to excessive medication doses. In the filed documents obtained by NBC News, Brindley alleged that prison officials overdosed Kelly shortly after his legal team publicly accused them of attempting to have him killed by another inmate. He also claimed they forcefully removed Kelly from a hospital at gunpoint, denying him urgent surgery for lung blood clots that the hospital deemed necessary.
In the filing, Brindley stated, “These people overdosed him… They left him with blood clots in his lungs and removed him from a hospital that sought to do surgery to remove them.” He added that this occurred within days of Kelly exposing a plan to kill him, allegedly orchestrated by officials from the Bureau of Prisons.
When contacted by TopMob News, the FCI facility in Butner declined to comment on the conditions of confinement for any inmate, including medical and health-related issues. However, according to court filings obtained by NBC News, prosecutors dismissed Kelly’s motion and his accusations as “dramatic and theatrical” and “repugnant” to the sentence imposed for serious offenses.
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2025-06-29 19:18