Why is R Kelly in prison?

Despite being currently held at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, disgraced singer and record producer Robert Sylvester Kelly managed to drop an album on Friday, titled I Admit It.

The album was quickly pulled from both Spotify and Apple Music after it started streaming on those platforms after an insider told TMZ that Sony Music Entertainment’s Legacy Recordings did not release the album and that it was a bootleg version of the album. It’s still unclear who dropped the album. 

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Why is R Kelly in prison?

The R&B singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison on June 29 this year after Kelly was convicted of “all nine counts of a superseding indictment charging him with racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children, forced labor and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity,” according to the website of US immigration and customs. 

Kelly was accused of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with him. He used to pick up these female fans from his concerts, and then direct members of his criminal enterprise to escort them backstage following his musical performances. After exchanging contact information with girls and women, travel and lodging were arranged for them to visit Kelly and engage in illegal sexual conduct.

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Investigators in the case also found out that Kelly had also put in place rules that many of his sexual partners were required to follow. These included many of the women and girls calling him “Daddy,” the girls not being permitted to leave their rooms to eat or visit the bathroom without his permission; requiring to wear baggy clothing when they were not accompanying Kelly, and not being permitted to look at or speak to other men. 

The accused also isolated the victims, many of them underage, from their friends and family and made them dependent on him for their financial well-being. The victims were required to engage in sex with him and others, and many of the sexual encounters were videotaped. 

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45 government witnesses testified at the trial, including more than 10 victims. Kelly’s conviction came on September 27, 2021, following six weeks of trial in Brooklyn. 

Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, issued the following statement about the sentencing: 

“R. Kelly used his fame, fortune and enablers to prey on the young, the vulnerable and the voiceless for his own sexual gratification, while many turned a blind eye,” stated U.S. Attorney Peace. “Through his actions, Kelly exhibited a callous disregard for the devastation his crimes had on his victims and has shown no remorse for his conduct. With today’s sentence he has finally and appropriately been held accountable for his decades of abuse, exploitation and degradation of teenagers and other vulnerable young people. We hope that today’s sentence brings some measure of comfort and closure to the victims, including those who bravely testified at trial, and serves as long-overdue recognition that their voices deserve to be heard and their lives matter.”