R & B singer, Robert Kelly, better known as R. Kelly, has been found guilty of all charges bordering on sexual exploitation of a child, bribery, racketeering and sex trafficking involving five victims.
Fourteen alleged underlying acts were associated with the racketeering charge. The jury found that the government had proved 12 of those acts, which involved five victims: the singer Aaliyah as well as women named Stephanie, Jerhonda Pace, Jane and Faith. Two acts associated with an alleged victim named Sonja were not proved. (Most alleged victims went by their first names or pseudonyms), NPR reports.
The jury consisting of seven men and five women, gave their verdict to Judge Ann Donnelly, that Kelly had been the head of a criminal enterprise whose purpose was to lure girls, boys and women to the R&B singer for his sexual gratification.
He is also to face a second federal trail in charges of child pornography and obstruction of justice in Illinois. Some of those accusations are related to a 2008 child pornography trial in Chicago in which he was acquitted of all charges.
Additionally, Kelly faces outstanding criminal charges in both Cook County, Ill., where he was indicted by the state attorney in February 2019 for aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four victims (three of them minors), and in Minnesota, where Kelly was charged in August 2019 with engaging in prostitution with a minor.
He will receive sentencing in New York on May 4.
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