Former members of R Kelly's inner-circle of employees provided sex tapes to investigators looking into alleged sex crimes, it's reported.
Over 20 of the tapes, allegedly showing multiple acts of sexual abuse, were handed over by Kelly's ex-employees and enablers of his crimes, according to TMZ.
- R Kelly faces new charges for sex trafficking
- R Kelly charged with 11 new counts of sex abuse, alleged victim in early teens
Gerald Griggs, the lawyer representing the family of one of the alleged victims, told the website that many of the tapes' subjects were underage.
The tapes were reportedly supplied by people from Kelly's "past and present" and were "exactly what the feds needed to secure indictments for sex crimes, including child pornography".
Kelly, already charged with sexual assault in Illinois, was indicted in federal courts in New York and Chicago on Saturday with transporting women and girls across state lines for sex, forcibly keeping them under his control and buying their silence.
Federal prosecutors say Kelly, 52, ran a racketeering and human trafficking scheme that required the women and girls to be obedient, call him "Daddy" and ask permission to eat or use the bathroom.
"The purposes of the enterprise were to promote R Kelly's music and the R Kelly brand and to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with Kelly," prosecutors said in the Brooklyn indictment.
The five-count Brooklyn racketeering indictment includes multiple allegations going back to 1999, including sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping and forced labour.
Chicago prosecutors charged in their 13-count indictment that Kelly had sexual contact with five minors, recorded videos of some of them and paid them off to buy their silence.
Prosecutors said Kelly paid an unidentified individual NZ$254,000 to cancel a news conference in which that person planned to announce he had tapes of Kelly engaging in sexual activity with minors.
The Chicago indictment also charges two of Kelly's former employees, Derrel McDavid, 58, and Milton 'June' Brown, 53 with obstructing the investigation. Kelly, McDavid and Brown are also accused of conspiring to receive child pornography mailed across state lines.
In June, Kelly pleaded not guilty to 11 new state felony counts of sexual assault and abuse at a Cook County, Illinois, court hearing, after prosecutors expanded an indictment against him.
Kelly lawyer Steve Greenberg said in a statement posted to Twitter that the federal charges mostly stem from conduct that is "decades old" and already part of the state case or previous allegations that Kelly had been acquitted of.
"He and his lawyers look forward to his day in court, to the truth coming out and to his vindication from what has been an unprecedented assault by others for their own personal gain," he said.
Reuters / Newshub.
