On February 22, 2019, the
Cook County State's Attorney's Office in Illinois charged Kelly with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. The charges allege that from 1998 to 2010, Kelly sexually abused four females, three of whom were teen minors at the time, with evidence including a video provided by
Michael Avenatti of an alleged new crime. The judge set bond at $1 million and ordered Kelly to have no contact with anyone under 18 or the alleged victim. Kelly pleaded not guilty to all charges, which he called lies. He was released on bail after three nights at
Cook County Jail. On January 30, 2023, the Cook County District Attorney's office announced that several Illinois-specific charges against Kelly had been dropped, due to "him already being served justice in extensive federal sentences", preventing him from facing more prison time for state-related charges.
Federal indictments and pretrial detention (2019–2023) The first grand jury indictment from the Eastern District of New York was handed down on June 20, 2019. On July 11, 2019, Kelly was arrested on federal charges alleging sex crimes and obstruction of justice by
U.S. Homeland Security investigators and
NYPD detectives in Chicago. A day later, following his re-arrest, federal prosecutors from New York and Chicago
indicted Kelly on 18 charges, including
child sexual exploitation,
child pornography production,
sex trafficking,
kidnapping,
forced labor,
racketeering, and
obstruction of justice. Following his re-arrest on the first superseding indictment, the
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York filed a letter in support of a permanent order of detention that previewed its case against Kelly, concluding that "preponderance of the evidence that the defendant's release poses both a risk of flight and a risk of obstruction of justice". Kelly's first arraignment on the Eastern District case took place before a
United States Magistrate Judge Steven Tiscione on August 2, 2019, where he pleaded not guilty. Judge Tiscione denied bail, on grounds of both dangerousness and flight risk. Kelly's lawyers requested and were denied a pre-trial release in October 2019. His lawyers tried again to secure pre-trial release in 2020, citing the
COVID-19 pandemic; the request was denied. Superseding indictments were filed in Chicago on February 13, 2020, and in New York on March 13, 2020, raising the total number of charges to 22. He was incarcerated at
Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago from July 11, 2019, to June 23, 2021, when he was transferred to
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn.
Hennepin County indictment (2019) On August 5, 2019, the
State's Attorney's Office in
Hennepin County, Minnesota charged Kelly with soliciting a minor and
prostitution. Prosecutors alleged that in July 2001, following a concert in
Minneapolis, Kelly had invited a girl up to his hotel room and paid her $200 to remove her clothing and dance with him. The charges were however dropped on May 16, 2023, citing Kelly's federal convictions.
Trial in the Eastern District of New York (2021) The
United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York was the first federal court to indict Kelly; at the time, it was the only jurisdiction to take Kelly to trial following the charges filed in the wake of
Surviving R. Kelly. Investigations continued with Kelly indicted, jailed and awaiting trial. Before trial, prosecutors previewed a growing body of evidence including evidence of bribes and recordings of threats. It was a month before trial that prosecutors first accused Kelly of abusing a male victim, an underaged boy he met at McDonald's, as pattern evidence in his trial.
Jury trial With
Judge Ann Donnelly presiding,
voir dire in
United States v. Robert Sylvester Kelly was held on August 9, 2021. The same day, Kelly's lawyers filed a last-second motion to dismiss charges related to his transmission of
genital herpes to several of his victims; that Kelly knew of his infection and non-disclosure to his sexual partners is a criminal act under the Public Health Law of New York and was presented as a predicate act for the charge of racketeering as well as the violations of the Mann Act. Judge Donnelly denied the motion, releasing a written decision after the trial. The federal jury trial began on August 18, 2021, with opening statements by prosecution and defense lawyers. The first witness called was Jerhonda Pace, one of the subjects of
Surviving R. Kelly whose identity is widely known. She was the first of any of Kelly's accusers to have ever testified against him in court. Pace testified that Kelly's abuse included slapping, choking, and raping her. On cross-examination, Pace was asked about signing a statement that she had deceived Kelly about her age and replied that it was a condition of a settlement. In all, eleven witnesses at Kelly's trial accused him of abuse either sexual or physical, with some accusing him of both. Two accusers were men alleging Kelly had sexually abused them at ages 16 and 17; one ("Louis") had recruited the other ("Alex") and testified as a cooperating witness. In addition, eight members of Kelly's staff testified, corroborating details of Kelly's modus operandi. Toward the end of the testimony on September 15, 2021, a video corroborating accusers' accounts of abuse was shown to the jury, but not the public or media. The videos were alluded to in later closing arguments as depicting Kelly delivering a painful spanking to one accuser, and a lengthy recording in which Kelly demanded acts of
coprophagia and
urophagia to humiliate another accuser. As the jury deliberated, the press was allowed to listen to the audio portions to fulfill obligations of access to evidence; accounts confirmed that Kelly and his victim's voices are heard narrating the graphic acts of abuse of the latter recording. Months after the verdict, prosecutors disclosed that, following Kelly's orders, "[a]t least three women made videos of themselves eating feces and rubbing it over their bodies." As described in a release by the
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, the racketeering charge against Kelly specified the following
predicate acts:
Post-verdict reaction United States District Judge
Ann Donnelly ordered Kelly to be kept in custody at the
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn to await sentencing. Kelly faced a sentencing range of 10 years to life in prison, and on June 29, 2022, was sentenced to spend 30 years behind bars. After the jury delivered their verdict, women's rights attorney
Gloria Allred, who represented several victims, stated that Kelly was the worst sexual predator she had pursued in her 47-year career of practicing law. Writing for
The New Yorker, longtime Kelly critic Jim DeRogatis asked, "How many more victims are there who we don't know about? This case involved twenty women and two men, but there are likely many more." DeRogatis noted that before the trial, prosecutors had told the judge they would call Susan E. Loggans, a Chicago attorney who had negotiated settlements on behalf of several accusers who testified in the criminal case, but she was never called to testify. On October 29, 2021, Kelly retained the services of
Jennifer Bonjean, who has helped overturn rape convictions for
Bill Cosby and a victim of
Jon Burge. Kelly fired his other lawyers in January 2022. Kelly appealed the verdict for this case in April 2023.
Sentencing and Executive Associate Director Steve Francis of
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) deliver remarks after the sentencing of R. Kelly to 30 years in prison. The sentencing process in the Eastern District of New York began with the presentation of the sealed
Presentence Report (PSR) by the
Office of Probation to the court on April 5, 2022. Kelly's defense lawyer Jennifer Bonjean lodged several objections to the report's description of Kelly's conduct. The opposing sides differed sharply in assessments of the applicable sentence. Bonjean filed a defense sentencing memorandum arguing that the applicable sentence according to
United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines would be 168 to 210 months imprisonment and that Kelly should receive less prison time. Arguing for leniency, Bonjean also wrote that a minor victim of Kelly was "a sophisticated 16-year-old". In its sentencing memorandum, prosecutors supported the application of several enhancements under Sentencing Guidelines, adding up to a sentence of 25 years-to-
life imprisonment, and that "[g]iven the need for specific deterrence and incapacitation, the government respectfully submits that a shorter sentence would be insufficient to adequately protect the public." Kelly's defense submitted several exhibits attesting to
mitigating factors in a supplement to the sentencing memorandum. The exhibits were filed
under seal. Following an unsealing and redaction process, the court revealed that factors Kelly's defense cited were his history of
adverse childhood experiences, including sexual abuse by his sister and his
illiteracy. Defense experts diagnosed Kelly with
hypersexuality. In the first half of Kelly's sentencing on June 29, 2022, seven women were permitted to address the court with their
victim impact statements. According to
Rolling Stone journalists, Kelly refused to look at them. Judge Donnelly ended the day reportedly sentencing Kelly to 30 years imprisonment, admonishing his criminality as "calculated and carefully planned and regularly executed for almost 25 years". In Donnelly's written judgment, the sentence was apportioned as follows: 30 years for the top charge of racketeering; 20 years for three acts of Mann Act coercion and enticement; 20 years for one violation of the Mann Act transportation of a minor; and 10 years for three counts of Mann Act transportation across state lines for illegal sexual activity. These terms would be served concurrently. Donnelly also ordered Kelly to serve 5 years of
supervised release following the completion of the sentence, with conditions typical for sex offenders. In addition to prison time, Judge Donnelly levied a $100,000 fine plus a statutory $40,000 penalty under the
Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. Bonjean said Kelly was "devastated" by his sentence and would appeal. Following his sentencing, the
Federal Bureau of Prisons placed Kelly under
suicide watch. His legal team argued that the measures were unnecessary, punitive, and
cruel because he was never
suicidal nor had he ever
thought about suicide. However, prosecutors defended the placement, claiming it was for his safety. On July 4, 2022, authorities removed Kelly from suicide watch. On July 13, 2022, Kelly transferred from
Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn to
Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago in anticipation of a trial in the
United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. On February 12, 2025 the verdict and sentence in this case was upheld by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorney Bonjean released a statement on Kelly's behalf asserting that the Supreme Court would agree to hear an appeal of this "unprecedented" ruling because the charged conduct was "absurdly remote" from the intent of the statute. == Trial in the Northern District of Illinois (2022) ==