R Kelly

In a series of heart-rending speeches, victims delivered testimony about the impact his crimes had on their lives.

“I do want to ask you, Mr Kelly, to look at me, man to man, father to father. Another women, called Faith, spoke with her father at her side.“I hope you forgive yourself. A woman called Angela spoke in a firm voice and looked straight at Kelly as she described him as a “Pied Piper” figure who preyed on children using his fame and wealth. Angela said her moment in court and seeing him sentenced was about reclaiming the identities of his victims. Addie fought off tears as she read her impact statement and described meeting the singer at a concert where he sexually assaulted her. “With every addition of a new victim, you grew in wickedness,” she said.

Recording artist was convicted last year of nine charges related to sex trafficking and racketeering.

Judge Ann Donnelly handed down the term in the Brooklyn federal court nearly a year after the 55-year-old Kelly was convicted by a New York jury.

To convict Kelly of racketeering, jurors had to find him guilty of at least two of 14 "predicate acts" -- the crimes elemental to the wider pattern of illegal wrongdoing. It was also the first time Kelly faced criminal consequences for the abuse he for decades was rumored to have inflicted on women and children. Kelly's conviction in New York was widely seen as a milestone for the #MeToo movement: It was the first major sex abuse trial where the majority of accusers were Black women. In that case, Kelly and two of his former associates are alleged to have rigged the singer's 2008 pornography trial and hid years of sexual abuse of minors. "The verdict is in: R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years," the US attorney's office for the Eastern District of New York said in a tweet. The prosecutors had urged the court to put the "I Believe I Can Fly" artist behind bars for at least 25 years, saying he still "poses a serious danger to the public."

NEW YORK, June 29 (Reuters) - R Kelly was sentenced on Wednesday to 30 years in prison, following the multiplatinum R&B singer's conviction for exploiting ...

He also faces various state charges in Illinois and Minnesota. “This case is not about sex. Read full story

The R&B singer, 55, had been found guilty of sex trafficking and racketeering involving women, girls and boys.

In federal court in Chicago, he is charged with enticement of a minor, possession of child abuse images and obstruction of justice. Kelly’s case attracted attention in light of the #MeToo movement, in which powerful men have been held to account for sexual misconduct and sexual assault. While prosecutors sought a minimum 25-year term, Kelly’s defence pushed for a sentence of 10 years or less. At the trial, victims had described how Kelly, real name Robert Sylvester Kelly, subjected them to perverse and sadistic whims when they were underage. “We are no longer the preyed-upon individuals we once were.” You taught them that love is enslavement and violence.”