And he can’t afford his bail.
For over two decades, R Kelly has been accused of abusing and sexually harassing young women. And while the allegations against R Kelly were made a long time ago, it was the recent broadcasting of a new documentary about the singer that prompted a lot of people to take them seriously.
The #MuteRKelly campaign and the Time’s Up movement called for ‘appropriate investigations’ into the claims, and this weekend the rapper surrendered to the police.
R Kelly has now been indicted on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four victims, with the reported crimes allegedly taking place between 1998 and 2010.
This, according to prosecutors, would make three of the alleged victims underage at the time of the reported assaults.
A judge in Chicago set Kelly’s bond at $1 million - $250,000 for each of the alleged victims in the case - but to leave police custody, he would be required to pay $100,000 - 10% of the total bond.
Kelly was unable to pay his bail however, with his attorney Steve Greenberg announcing that despite the bond seeming ‘fair and reasonable given the allegations’, R Kelly was unable to pay.
Explaining that Kelly ‘really doesn’t have any money at the moment’, apparently due to ‘mismanagement’ and ‘bad deals’, he explained that Kelly would ultimately be able to pay the required $100,000 after he had worked it all out.
If he is convicted, R Kelly faces three to seven years in prison for each count.
Kelly has denied all the allegations
We will continue to update this story.
