Federal choose to order R. Kelly to pay $300,000 to sufferer in intercourse crimes case to cowl medical therapy

A federal choose signaled Wednesday that she plans to order disgraced R&B famous person R. Kelly to pay greater than $300,000 to considered one of his victims in a decades-long scheme to make use of his fame to sexually abuse younger followers.

A restitution order by U.S. District Judge Ann Connelly that was nonetheless being finalized is supposed to cowl the price of therapy for herpes and psychotherapy. The sufferer, referred to solely by a pseudonym, has accused the jailed Kelly of giving her the sexually transmitted illness throughout considered one of their encounters.

Kelly could possibly be on the hook for tens of hundreds of {dollars} extra to pay for herpes therapy and counseling for a second sufferer as soon as the ultimate tally is calculated. The choose rejected a 3rd declare by one other accuser.

The Grammy-winning, multiplatinum-selling songwriter appeared on the listening to in federal court docket in Brooklyn through video from a lockup in Chicago, and solely spoke to change greetings with the choose and to show down a proposal to say extra. None of the victims had been in attendance.

Earlier this yr, Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in jail following a trial in New York the place the jury discovered him responsible of racketeering and intercourse trafficking. A second trial in Chicago ended on Sept. 14 together with his conviction on fees of manufacturing baby pornography and attractive ladies for intercourse.

The query now within the New York case turns into when and the way Kelly can pay the restitution. Prosecutors declare he has entry to as a lot as $5 million to go together with about $28,000 seized from his inmate commissary account that protection legal professional Jennifer Bonjean mentioned was made up of small donations from followers.

Bonjean advised the choose that Kelly has no entry to another funds due to judgments in civil instances introduced in opposition to him. She additionally insisted that her shopper has at all times been clueless about his funds.

“He’s not the most effective supply of that info,” she mentioned.

Kelly achieved famous person standing for work together with the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult basic “Trapped within the Closet,” a multipart story of sexual betrayal and intrigue.