Robert R Kelly seen [last month in Chicago, stepping out of court], has been indicted on 13 charges in the Northern District of Illinois and five charges in the Eastern District of New York 

Singer Robert ‘R’ Kelly was arrested on federal sex charges Thursday night nearly five months after he was released on bail for additional sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
The indictments filed against R Kelly by federal grand juries in Illinois and New York have been unsealed in the wake of his arrest on Friday.
Kelly, 52, was arrested in Chicago by Homeland Security Investigations agents and NYPD Public Safety Task Force. He had stepped out for a smoke and to walk his dog when he was taken into custody around 7 p.m. local time, a law enforcement source familiar with the case said.
Kelly was indicted on 13 counts in the Northern District of Illinois, including conspiracy to obstruct justice and producing child pornography.
That complaint alleges that singer made four videos of himself raping an underage girl and later provided her family with money and gifts in order to buy their silence ahead of his 2008 trial in Cook County.


He is also accused of aggravated criminal abuse and sexual exploitation of a child in the indictment, with all charges stemming from his alleged assaults of five minor females.
A federal grand jury in Brooklyn indicted the singer on five counts, including racketeering and violating the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of individuals across state lines for prostitution or any other illegal sexual activity.
Kelly has yet to comment on these 18 federal charges, but his lawyer said in a brief statement: ‘The conduct alleged appears to largely be the same as the conduct previously alleged against Mr. Kelly in his current state indictment and his former state charges that he was acquitted of.’

It was Homeland Security agents and officers with the New York Police Department who made the arrest, despite the fact that Kelly was in Chicago at the time.
The singer was out on bail at the time, having put up a $1 million bond after Cook County prosecutors indicted him on 21 charges related to sex crimes he allegedly committed against four women – three of whom were minors the time.
These indictments come months after several victims spoke out against the singer on the Lifetime docu-series Surviving R Kelly, including: Kelly’s ex-wife Andrea, Asante McGee, Lisa Van Allen, Jerhonda Pace, Kitti Jones and Lizette Martinez.


Also featured in that series was Stephanie ‘Sparkle’ Edwards, a one-time Kelly protegee who told authorities in 2002 that that the girl the singer was allegedly seen raping on the charging tapes was her underage niece.
Edwards career never recovered after she made the decision to accuse Kelly and the testify against him at trial, and she remains estranged from most of her family.
But 17 years later, her sacrifice became federal prosecutors’ gain as all 13 charges in the Illinois indictment stem from that initial interview with law enforcement back in 2002.
Authorities have also admitted that it was the docu-series that revived the long-dormant investigation into the singer’s alleged sex crimes.

Derrel McDavid [left], who is accused of cover up and paying hush money is seen leaving federal court on Friday. McDavid worked as Kelly’s business manager in the 1990s. He left in 2013 amid a dispute over unpaid wages

It also supports he claim that her family had been paid off by the singer.
Kelly and his former manager Derrel McDavid paid ‘hundreds of thousands of dollars’ to buy back the tapes that allegedly showed him raping minor victims.
McDavid is also named as a defendant in the Illinois indictment, as is another former employee, Milton Brown.
McDavid has been quick to challenge Kelly’s many accusers. During Kelly’s 2008 trial, after Lisa Van Allen testified against Kelly, McDavid called Van Allen “an admitted thief and liar who wouldn’t know the truth if she tripped over it.”
He also lashed out at another Kelly accuser, Jerhonda Pace, threatening to sue her for violating a confidentiality clause in her settlement with Kelly after she appeared in the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly.”
In the new indictment filed in federal court Thursday, McDavid is accused of helping cover up Kelly’s alleged crimes, paying hush money to victims and collecting incriminating tapes of Kelly He pled not guilty to each of the four federal charges Friday and was released on a $500,000 bond. He’s due back in court next week.
Click for R Kelly Indictment 
Minor 2, who appeared in one of the videos with Kelly and Minor 1, was paid $350,000 to return the tapes according to the indictment.
She was also required to submit to a polygraph test to confirm she had no tapes in her possession claims the indictment.
The indictment unsealed on Friday in New York meanwhile lists 11 acts of racketeering in total,  for offenses including kidnapping, forced labor, the sexual exploitation of a child and violations of the Mann Act.


Five Jane Does are referenced in the New York charging incidents.
The indictment accuses Kelly of using his fame and massive world tours to recruit women into his sex ring, with the help of some members of his staff.
The members of that ‘enterprise’ are alleged to have ‘traveled throughout the United States and abroad to perform at concert venues, to promote the R. Kelly brand and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity.’
None of the victims in the New York indictment are named, but the allegations are remarkably similar to those made by Faith Rodgers in her lawsuit against the singer, which has been filed in New York Supreme Court.
Rodgers said in her complaint, filed in May of last year, that she met Kelly backstage at a show in 2017, and a few months later his assistant flew her to New York for a concert.
‘Following his performance, Defendant, R. Kelly, bombarded Plaintiff’s hotel room and initiated unwanted sexual contact with Plaintiff,’ states the complaint.
‘Defendant disregarded specific statements made by Plaintiff that she was “not ready to have sex” with Defendant and initiated non-consensual oral and vaginal intercourse.’
Rodgers said that ‘after initiating non-permissive, painful and abusive sex,’ Kelly ‘immediately insulted and criticized plaintiff concerning her “lack of participation” and physical inadequacies.’
That encounter also left Rodgers with an STD she claims, stating in the suit that she had been tested prior to the encounter and was found to be negative.
‘Prior to initiating sexual contact, Defendant, R. Kelly, failed to advise Plaintiff that he had herpes an incurable sexually transmitted disease,’ reads the filing.


Rodgers stayed with Kelly for almost a year after that first encounter according to the complaint, and was allegedly forced to endure more abuse.
‘During the course of their, approximately one-year relationship, Defendant, R. Kelly, routinely engaged in intimidation, mental, verbal and sexual abuse, during and after sexual contact,’ claims the complaint.
‘Defendant’s conduct was designed to humiliate, embarrass, intimidate and shame Plaintiff.’
It goes on to say: ‘Defendant, R. Kelly, routinely recorded Plaintiff without her consent submitting to deviant and compromising sexual contact. Defendant, R. Kelly’s, sexual contact was, at times, forceful and initiated without consent and despite noted objections by Plaintiff.’
She also revealed in a press conference back in January that Kelly wrote a letter threatening to reveal intimate details of her sexual history if she did not drop her lawsuit against the singer.
The letter which is signed by Kelly  states: ‘Please advise Ms. Rodgers, your client to abandon this heartless effort to try to destroy my musical legacy for selfish, personal enrichment. If she persists in court action she will be subjected to public opinion during the discovery process.’
That is when Kelly lists of the ways in which he plans to respond to the allegations.
‘For example, my law team is prepared to request the production of the medical test results proving the origin of her STD claim, as well as 10 personal male witnesses testifying under oath about her sex life in support of her claim and complete records of her text/face time message exchanges, which will be reviewed to match and be authenticated by the recipient to insure there are no omissions or deletions,’ states Kelly in the letter.


‘If Ms. Rodgers really cares about her own reputation she should cease her participation and association with the organizers of this negative campaign. Counter actions are in the developmental stages and due to be released soon.’
She claims the letter said Kelly would demand medical documentation of her claim that he gave her herpes, force her to turn over texts and social media posts, and have ’10 personal male witnesses testifying under oath about her sex life’.
The ‘intimidation’ letter, which was not filed in court at that time, warned: ‘If Ms Rodgers really cares about her own reputation she should cease her participation and association with the organizers of this negative campaign.’