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 Kelly, 52, was charged in a 10-count Cook County Circuit Court
indictment handed down two months after the debut of a six-hour
documentary series on the Lifetime television network in which
multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and abuse.
The R&B superstar, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly,
surrendered to Chicago police on Friday evening, the Hollywood
trade publication Variety reported.
His criminal defense lawyers could not be reached for comment on
Friday. His attorney Steven Greenberg earlier in the evening
tweeted that Kelly would be turning himself in to Chicago police
before midnight.
Greenberg told Reuters in an interview in January the Lifetime
series was a "complete fabrication" and that there was no
evidence to support the allegations against his client.
At a news conference on Friday after the charges were detailed
in a court filing, the Cook County state's attorney, Kimberly
Foxx, said three of the four victims Kelly is accused of
sexually abusing between 1998 and 2010 were under age 17 at the
time of the assaults.
Kelly, was expected to appear at a bond hearing on Saturday
afternoon, Foxx said. The entertainer faces a maximum sentence
of 70 years in prison if convicted.
Later on Friday, attorney Michael Avenatti, who has represented
porn star Stormy Daniels in a legal battle with President Donald
Trump, told a separate news conference he has been retained by
two people who he said were victims, as well as two parents and
two "whistleblowers" from Kelly’s inner circle.
Avenatti said his firm had uncovered a 40-minute videotape shot
in the late 1990s allegedly showing Kelly performing sexual acts
with a 14-year-old girl. Avenatti said he had given the tape to
prosecutors.
Chicago prosecutors have not said if that footage was part of
their case against Kelly.
YEARS OF ACCUSATIONS
Avenatti said he would seek to expose the complicity of members
of Kelly’s inner circle who he said helped cover up the abuse.
“Mr. Kelly did not do this alone,” he said.
Kelly, best known for his hit single "I Believe I Can Fly," has
for years denied accusations of abuse swirling around him.
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In 1994 he married 15-year-old singer Aaliyah in 1994, a union that
was annulled months later by her parents. In 2008, Kelly was tried
and acquitted on child pornography charges in Chicago. Aaliyah died
at age 22 in 2001 in a plane crash.
But "Surviving R. Kelly" touched off a new furor on social media
when it debuted in January, prompting his record label, Sony
Music-owned RCA, to end its relationship with the hitmaker.
Singer Lady Gaga, who had recorded a sexually suggestive 2013 duet
with Kelly, "Do What U Want (With My Body)", apologized for the
song, removed it from streaming services and vowed to never work
with him again.
"We are proud that Lifetime was able to provide a platform for
survivors to be heard," Lifetime said in a written statement on
Friday.
It was not immediately clear if the charges announced on Friday in
Chicago stemmed from accusations made in the documentary or if any
of the alleged victims, who were identified in the indictment only
by their initials, were the same.
Following the debut of the documentary in January, Foxx at a news
conference called for anyone who felt they had been abused by the
singer to come forward.
Social media erupted again on Friday after the charges were
announced.
"It took this long to indict R.Kelly because the victims are Black
girls," political analyst Zerlina Maxwell, who describes herself as
a survivor of sexual assault, wrote on Twitter.
Last month, a former manager for the singer turned himself in to
authorities in Georgia, where he was wanted on a charge of making
threats against one of the families that took part in the
documentary.
Kelly, a three-time Grammy winner whose hits also include "Bump N’
Grind" and "Your Body's Callin," grew up in a Chicago public housing
project where, according to his autobiography, he was sexually
abused beginning at age 8.
(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Additional reporting by
Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and
Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill
Tarrant and Leslie Adler)
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