Jennifer Bonjean, his attorney, tried to convince three judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan that prosecutors wrongly utilized a racketeering provision meant to stop organized crime to go after the singer.
She said it was unfair that prosecutors charged Kelly, 57, with leading a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) enterprise from 1994 to 2018 that promoted his music and recruited women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity and produce child pornography.
This was not a collection of people who recruited girls for sexual abuse or child pornography,” Bonjean said. “Whether they turned a blind eye or suspected some of these girls were underage is another matter.
And once we get into that sort of territory, where we're going to say that constitutes a RICO enterprise, well we have a lot of organizations — frat houses, all types of organizations — that will become RICO enterprises, she said in support of the Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter.
The judges did not immediately rule, but they questioned Bonjean and a prosecutor who defended the government's handling of the case, which resulted in a 30-year prison sentence in June 2022. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Bensing said Kelly's aides and workers were part of his “system in place that lured young people in to his orbit” before he “took over their lives.”
Several women testified that they were forced to sign nondisclosure contracts and threatened with brutal spankings if they breached “Rob’s rules.” Judges questioned if Kelly's colleagues knew about her illicit contacts with teenage females.
What evidence shows that staff who arranged these things knew they were underage? questioned Denny Chin, Circuit Judge. The prosecutor cited various testimony, including one in which a lady said she told Kelly's entourage she was 16 when he inquired her age. She said others knew some girls were under 18 since they booked flights and required birth dates.
So this is all evidence the jury may infer that Kelly's inner circle knew. Bensing said he recruited and maintained minor ladies for sexual activity. Members of the enterprise heard Kelly beat his girlfriends, knew he was isolating his victims, and helped him do it by enforcing his penalties like watching over them on a bus for lengthy periods of time, she continued.
The 1996 smash “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,” a multipart story of sexual betrayal and intrigue, are Kelly's works.
Despite 1990s claims of child molestation, he had legions of admirers and sold millions of CDs. Chicago acquitted him of child pornography in 2008, but a second trial in 2022 found him guilty of manufacturing child pornography and luring minors for sex. Outrage over Kelly's sexual misbehavior didn't surface until the #MeToo reckoning, peaking with the documentary "Surviving R. Kelly."
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