More than half a million dollars in R. Kelly’s music royalties held by Universal Music Group must be handed over to victims of his sex abuse, a New York judge has ruled.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly signed an order Wednesday ordering UMG, the disgraced R&B singer’s music publisher, to hand over $520,549 to cover unpaid restitution and fines.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June 2022 for sexually abusing women and underage girls and boys over decades.
UMG has 10 days to send the money to pay off the debt, according to court documents.
Following UMG’s agreement to hand over cash to victims, prosecutors said they would drop their move to pursue Sony’s more than $1.5 million in royalties.
R. Kelly’s royalties with Universal Music Group will be turned over to Brooklyn federal prosecutors to pay his sex abuse victims. AP
Kelly was found guilty of extortion and federal sex trafficking charges and ordered to pay restitution to the women he abused over the decades during his R&B singing career. AP
Sony’s cash, however, is being sought by abuse victims in Kelly’s child pornography conviction in Chicago, which was awarded $4 million.
The “Ignition” singer, 56, still owes more than $42,000 in fines and restitution in the case, Billboard reports.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said in a statement that she will seek to reimburse her client because he is currently appealing both of his convictions.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly ordered Kelly’s royalties and his inmate’s bank account to be used to pay his victims. Judge Ann Donnelly
Representatives for UMG and Sony did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The move to go after Kelly’s royalties comes after Donnelly ordered the fallen ’90s R&B icon to hand over nearly $28,000 in his prison inmate account to pay his victims.
Donnelly has rejected defense claims that prosecutors took the “unprecedented” step of freezing all but $500 in Kelly’s account.
Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year in New York, and 20 years in a trial in Chicago. AP
In addition to his sentence in New York for federal rape and sex-trafficking convictions, Kelly was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison in a separate case in Chicago — but most of the time had to be served concurrently with the 30-year sentence.
In April, Kelly was transferred from a Chicago correctional center to the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, a medium-security prison known for housing high-profile inmates in North Carolina.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
