R. Kelly Bond set at $1 Million

CHICAGO (AP) – R. Kelly has been ordered jailed on $1 million bond at his first court hearing since the R&B star was charged with sexually abusing four people, including three minors.

The 52-year-old Grammy winner turned himself in late Friday and spent a night in jail before being taken to the courthouse. He stood with his hands behind his back and looked at the floor as the judge spoke.

Kelly must post $100,000 to be released.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti says it’s “outrageous” that R. Kelly’s attorney questions whether the singer’s accusers are telling the truth about being sexually abused by the R&B singer.

Avenatti, who says he represents two Kelly victims and gave prosecutors new video evidence of Kelly having sex with an underage girl, said Saturday that, “We’re going to do everything in our power … to make sure 2019 is not a repeat of 2008.”

He was referring to Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial, in which the singer was acquitted.
Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, said Saturday after a judge set Kelly’s bond at $1 million that Kelly “is a rock star. He doesn’t have to have nonconsensual sex.”
Referring to the #MeToo movement, Greenberg said, “Unfortunately, there’s this whole hashtag movement. Just because someone says something now … it doesn’t make them credible.”