Federal prosecutors are attempting to seize Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Publishing Group earnings from singer R. Kelly, who is now in jail, in order to use the money to compensate the victims, according to recently filed court documents.
The cash is also meant to cater to what the singer owes in outstanding fines. Although the singer had been ordered to pay more than 500,000 dollars in fines from his incarceration, R. Kely has been reported to have only paid 28, 000 dollars to his victims. The money was taken from his prison inmate account, which he is meant to use to purchase food and other items at a prison commissary. The disgraced musician was found guilty and convicted of sex trafficking and racketeering back in 2021.
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Federal prosecutors have asked that the singer’s proceeds in royalties from the two companies could be used to cover R. Kelly’s debt in fines set by the court during his conviction and the companies should release the funds to settle the more than 400, 000 dollars fines and restitution debt.
After being given a 30-year prison term in a Brooklyn case last year, Kelly is currently housed in a federal prison in Butner, North Carolina, USA. He received a 20-year prison term after being found guilty in a second federal child pornography case in Chicago, the majority of which will run simultaneously with the Brooklyn term.
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Speaking to the media yesterday, R. Kelly’s lead lawyer Jennifer Bonjean said that the restitution verdict against her client was improper and would be reversed on appeal.
