CHICAGO _ Federal prosecutors in New York on Friday said indicted singer R. Kelly "still has the financial means" to flee and should not be released on bond, despite a recent outbreak of the coronavirus at the Chicago jail where he's housed.
In a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, prosecutors wrote that although Kelly has claimed he is broke and could not flee, he has in fact earned at least $200,000 in royalties from his music this year alone.
In addition to being a flight risk, prosecutors also alleged Kelly has enlisted people to "do his bidding" while he's in jail by regularly posting and appearing in online videos in support of him "and overtly trying to intimidate the defendant's accusers."
Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenberg, said that allegation had no merit. "It is preposterous to believe that Robert is responsible for anything posted on social media by his fans," Greenberg said. "He does not run a cult."
While nine inmates at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago have tested positive for COVID-19, none of them are on Kelly's tier, according to legal counsel at the high-rise jail.
The official tally from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons counted only four inmates positive as of Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly is expected to rule quickly on Kelly's latest request for bond. The judge already denied a previous bid, noting Kelly was deemed a flight risk and had the potential to tamper with witnesses. She also said that, at the time, the MCC had seen no cases of the virus among its population.
In renewing his request for release on Thursday, however, Kelly's attorney said news that the virus has now hit the jail has increased the stress level throughout the inmate population, including Kelly, who has been held there without bond since his arrest last July.
"Inmates are reportedly banging on doors, walls, and windows begging for help," Kelly's attorney, Michael Leonard, stated in the motion. "The only thing the MCC has done is lock things down, making the situation feel more like solitary confinement and possibly, because of the nature of this virus, locking in healthy inmates with those who may already have the virus but who may not yet be symptomatic."
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is charged in New York in a racketeering conspiracy indictment alleging he identified underage girls attending his concerts and groomed them for later sexual abuse.
A jury trial that had been set for July was moved to September due to the ongoing pandemic.
Kelly is also facing charges in U.S. District Court in Chicago and four separate indictments in Cook County alleging he sexually assaulted or abused four women, three of whom were underage at the time.
Additional charges are also pending in Minnesota, alleging Kelly solicited a teenager who asked for his autograph in 2001.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
