HOW R. KELLY WAS FINALLY BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

Disgraced singer R. Kelly spent decades trying to silence his underage victims with threats and bribery before his downfall began with the 2019 release of an explosive documentary that exposed his predatory behavior.

Lifetime’s ‘Surviving R. Kelly’ – which revisited old claims and introduced new ones – opened up a Pandora’s Box of trouble for the singer, who previously avoided jail time after being acquitted of child pornography charges.

That documentary culminated with charges against Kelly that would finally stick; after years of him using his fame and fortune to silence his victims, he was convicted Monday of nine counts of racketeering and sex trafficking.

Soon after the six-part docuseries aired in January 2019, Illinois’ Cook County State Attorney Kim Foxx said her office was contacted by two Chicago families who believed their relatives were being involuntarily held by Kelly.

She urged other victims to come forward.

Celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Celine Dion began distancing themselves from the Grammy-winning musician, and hotshot women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred brought victim Faith Rogers in front of the cameras to share her story.

On February 14, 2019, lawyer Michael Avenatti said he handed over a 45-minute video of the star having sex with a minor to Chicago prosecutors.

About a week later, on February 22, Kelly was charged by Cook County prosecutors with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse related to four victims as young as 13.

It was the beginning of the end for Kelly, who was soon hit with more sexual assault-related charges in other states after getting away with it for decades.

'Surviving R. Kelly,' a six-part mini-series that featured deeply-personal interviews with victims, including his ex-wife Andrea Kelly, who said she was abused throughout their 13-year marriage.

The documentary led a groundswell of public outrage and a criminal investigation in Georgia.

It also led to more victims coming forward, and prosecutors strengthening the case against the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly.

Kelly was sentenced for some of his misdeeds Monday, when a federal jury found him guilty following a six-week trial featuring lurid testimony from 50 witnesses.

Some of his accusers were finally able to testify against him during the trial after their hush-money NDAs, which paid up to $1.5million each in exchange for their silence, was overturned by a Brooklyn judge.

Prosecutors said Kelly suppressed allegations against him for years by pressuring accusers into signing non-disclosure agreements in exchange for cash settlements. The NDA settlements were overseen by Susan E Loggans, a personal-injury attorney.

But prosecutors in Kelly's ongoing trial argued that NDAs should not keep victims from speaking out and referred to four other federal cases, including a ruling against Bill Cosby in 2016 when he sued one of his victims Andrea Constand for speaking with prosecutors.

Until now, justice has been elusive for Kelly’s victims, some of whom were threatened or paid into silence.

He was in 2008 acquitted of 18 child pornography charges stemming from a 27-minute sex tape after the girl refused to testify.

Jurors said they couldn’t be certain the girl was underage.

Kelly has for decades faced a multitude of sexual assault allegations; in 1997 Tiffany Hawkins filed the first of many complaints when she alleged he sexually harassed and sexually battered her while she was a minor.

Hawkins was 15 when she began having sex with then-24-year-old Kelly in 1991, she said in a court document.

The case settled in 1998; Hawkins received a payout of $250,000, a fraction of the $10million she sought in damages, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

It wouldn’t have been the last time Kelly engaged in elicit behavior with a minor.

In 1994, he married Aaliyah - the famed singer who was then just 15 - in a secret ceremony. He was 27 at the time, and the marriage was later annulled due to her age.
#RKelly #RosemaryMinjaj