As R. Kelly’s trial enters its second week, more details reveal that the former R&B singer may have used money and power to beat sex tape allegations brought forth against him during the early 2000s.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that both Kelly and his entourage searched frantically for alleged sex tapes ahead of his 2002 indictment on state child pornography charges. On Monday (Aug. 22), prosecutors called the mother of the alleged victim in the aforementioned case to the stand. The woman, who was identified in court by the pseudonym “Susan,” said that she and her husband lied to both investigators and a state grand jury nearly two decades ago.
She further revealed that during a meeting at an Oak Park hotel, Kelly cried as news of an alleged sex tape between the 55-year-old and her then-14-year-old daughter circulated in the media. Susan says that Kelly paid for the family to take a weeks-long trip to both the Bahamas and Cancun in an effort to avoid the press.
Upon their return, the woman and her husband informed investigators that there was nothing to the rumors. “[Kelly] had wanted us to paint this picture, to let them know that it wasn’t my daughter on the tape,” said the woman during the testimony on Monday (Aug. 22). Susan also shared that she and her now-deceased husband were “in fear for their life” following the meeting and continued to remain close with Kelly well beyond the 2002 indictment.
As previously reported by REVOLT, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison during a Brooklyn trial held earlier this summer. He was also ordered to undergo sexual disorder treatment upon his release. Currently, the disgraced singer faces child pornagraphy and obstruction of justice charges in the ongoing Chicago case. This time, however, Kelly is not the only defendant. His associates, Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, have been named as co-defendants and are being accused of helping Kelly to fix a separate 2008 trial. All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to the allegations.