R. Kelly

Jeffrey Epstein's former lover received "pervasive, vitriolic, and extreme" press coverage requiring secrecy around jury selection, her lawyers argue.

"R. Kelly did receive a fair trial," Faith Rodgers told reporters on Friday. "He was not railroaded."

R. Kelly's official channels were reportedly deleted "due to a potential to cause widespread harm."

Real progress—a reduction in prevalence of human trafficking—requires that we move upstream to confront the root causes of the problem.

"I didn't see how he'd be able to get out of it," Oronike Odeleye said of the charges R. Kelly faced in New York.

R. Kelly was convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering in a New York court on Monday and will be sentenced next May.

RAINN has said calls to its hotline tend to increase when cases involving sexual violence are in the news.

As an artist, one who...is gifted, I think he'll be welcomed back into Chicago as a person who can be redeemed," Davis said on Monday.

The R&B singer could face life in prison after he was found guilty on Monday of racketeering and violations of the Mann Act.

R. Kelly was found guilty of "racketeering and multiple predicate acts," including illegal sex with minors, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

R&B singer R. Kelly was on Monday found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York.

A New York jury convicted the R&B singer of racketeering charges on Monday, but he still faces additional charges in Illinois and Minnesota.

Deveraux Cannick, an attorney for Kelly, told reporters outside the courthouse that the singer "was not anticipating" the guilty verdict and that he was "sure" they would be appealing.

In an unusual closing speech, Kelly's lawyer compared the singer to Martin Luther King Jr. and insisted he was fighting for his constitutional rights.

Witnesses for the defense included a handful of Kelly's former employees and associates, most of whom testified they had never seen him abuse anyone.

The R&B singer has denied all charges of sexual assault, and claimed the women accusing him were former groupies who wanted to take advantage of his fame.

One of the women also intended to testify in the trial, but was pulled from the list when she experienced panic attacks after hearing the audio, lawyers said.

"It would have been my very first huge celebrity interview. I thought it would kickstart my career," said the witness, who is now 39.

She said Kelly added "I still have a lot to teach you" and that he kept a gun by his side as he would reprimand her before forcing her to perform oral sex.

The witness said he continued to see Kelly after the incident because he "really wanted to make it in the music industry."

The singer has repeatedly denied accusations that he preyed on several alleged victims during a 30-year career.

"I felt this man had purposely given me something he knew he had," the witness testified.

"There's been times where they wanted to (leave) but couldn't because they couldn't get a ride or we couldn't get ahold of Rob," Anthony Navarro said.

One of the accusers in the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial resumed testimony after telling jurors yesterday she was a minor when the sexual relationship began.

"What his success and popularity brought him was access, access to girls, boys and young women," a prosecutor said during opening statements.

Jury selection concluded after a three-day process in which dozens of potential jurors were screened for the upcoming trial of the R&B singer.

The Grammy winner has been locked up since 2019 while awaiting four separate state and federal trials. If convicted in New York, the 54-year-old faces 20 years in prison.

One of Kelly's lawyers said the R&B singer's funds are "depleted" after he has been unable to work for the past two years following his arrest in 2019.

Kelly allegedly had $500 paid to an Illinois state employee to create a fake ID for Aaliyah, his protege who was 15 years old at the time.

"We refused to try a case with lawyers who don't have the appropriate level of experience and skill because that is not in the client's best interest," Greenberg told Newsweek.