R&B icon R. Kelly received a 30-year prison sentence Wednesday for systematically abusing young fans, some as young as children, while exploiting his notoriety.
AP News broke the news that the musician had been convicted.
Almost a year after being convicted by a state jury in federal court in New York in the United States, Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the sentence. She defended herself against extortion charges and numerous other crimes.
At the hearing held on Wednesday, several defendants testified and described in detail how the singer wronged them.
If Kelly is convicted in a second federal trial in Chicago on child pornography and sexual assault charges, scheduled for August 15, it could add decades to his sentence.
He still faces state charges in Minnesota and Illinois.
He already escaped conviction in 2018 when he was found not guilty of 14 charges related to child pornography.
The singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is charged with one count of racketeering and eight counts of violation of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of people for sexual purposes across state lines. He denied all the accusations.
Federal prosecutors accused the singer of organizing a group of businessmen, security guards and others who recruited women and girls for sex, abuse and the production of pornography, including child pornography.
Kelly was convicted, among other things, of bribing a government official who approved his marriage to singer Aaliyah (1979-2001) in 1994, when she was just 15 years old.
Categories: Biography
Source: newstars.edu.vn