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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="14334736" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="barry-hankerson" source="Orion">Barry Hankerson</keyword>, <keyword id="11911851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword>'s uncle, once worked as Kelly's manager.</li><li>Witnesses said he introduced Aaliyah to the predator who eventually made her his teen bride.</li></ul><keyword id="11899001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword> was <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sentenced-to-prison-sex-trafficking-scheme-conviction-2022-6">sentenced Wednesday</a> to 30 years in prison for running decades-long scheme in which he used his inner circle of employees and associates to recruit young girls, boys, and women for him to sexually abuse. One of those girls, the jury heard, was beloved R&amp;B icon Aaliyah, who was introduced to the sexual predator by her uncle, Barry Hankerson, when she was only 12-years-old. Hankerson was Kelly's manager at the time.In a memo Tuesday, denying Kelly's request for a new trial, Judge Ann Donnelly named Hankerson among the employees that were hired to see to Kelly's "professional and personal needs." There was no evidence presented in court that Hankerson knew Kelly was abusing his niece, but he was identified in another manager's testimony as the man who introduced Kelly to Aaliyah at her home in Chicago.Insider reached out to Hankerson through his music label, "Blackground Records," but didn't get an immediate response. Aaliyah sung for Kelly, and the R&amp;B star took an interest in her. He wrote music for her — including her hit song "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" — and they performed together. A few years after meeting Aaliyah, Kelly bribed an Illinois official to obtain a fake ID for her so he could marry her in a hotel room when she was 15-years-old, witnesses testified. The point of the marriage, one of Kelly's other victims testified, was so she could <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-married-aaliyah-to-get-abortion-accuser-testifies-2021-8">get an abortion</a> without her parents' consent.Without naming Hankerson, Donnelly spoke sternly about the role Kelly's employees played in enabling his abuse of Aaliyah and the other girls and women.His runners, managers, and others in his inner circle — specifically Demetrius Smith — knew what Kelly was doing to Aaliyah and others, and didn't do anything to stop it, she said. Smith testified that he once confronted Kelly because he believed he was being "too playful" with the young girl and that he may have been "messing around" with her. "Mr. Smith knew what you were doing, but when you thought she was pregnant and thought you would be caught for what you had been doing, he and your other handlers helped to bribe somebody to get this child a fake ID so that you could marry her because you wanted to cover up that you'd been having sex with a young girl," she said. "They wanted to protect you and your career and they helped you, and the victim didn't matter." <div type="image" title="r kelly aaliyah" height="2104" width="3000" msid="92583259" hostid="261" sizebytes="367226"></div><h2>An enterprise of abuse</h2>Throughout Kelly's six week trial, jurors heard from Kelly's victims, employees, and others about how he controlled the young women and girls in his orbit. Evidence presented at trial showed that once Kelly established control, he would sexually and physically abuse his victims, who he made follow a strict set of rules that governed how they dressed, how they spoke, where they went, and who they looked at. Some of the employees were made to hand out Kelly's phone number to young people at hangouts like McDonald's or his concerts. Others were in charge of enforcing his strict rules when they were in his homes. Evidence presented at trial showed that once Kelly established control, he would sexually and physically abuse his victims, who he made follow a strict set of rules that governed how they dressed, how they spoke, where they went, and who they looked at. If Kelly deemed they broke one of his rules, the punishments were severe and humiliating, evidence showed. "There are countless other examples of employees who stood by or enabled your behavior. They heard you beating these victims. They knew that you were holding them in a room or on a bus," Donnelly told R. Kelly on Wednesday.Donnelly questioned whether the employees turned turned a blind eye in an "exception to every standard of human decency" just because he was famous."Did they agree with you, as we heard at trial, that you can do whatever you want because you fancied yourself a genius who should be 'allowed to do whatever I want because of what I give to this world?'" she asked. "There's much, much more that could be said about people who excused this and tolerated it for all these years, but these people are not before me for sentence today."

A federal judge named Aaliyah's uncle in list of people who saw to R. Kelly's 'professional and personal needs'

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11911851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword>'s uncle released the late R&amp;B star's music to streaming services Friday.</li><li>That same day, jurors in the <keyword id="11899000" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly-trial" source="Orion">R. Kelly trial</keyword> learned that Aaliyah's uncle introduced her to the accused predator.</li><li>Barry Hankerson was Kelly's manager at the time the singer married the 15-year-old star.</li></ul>Fans of R&amp;B icon Aaliyah had been clamoring for years for the release of her music on streaming services. But it wasn't until nearly 20 years after the singer's death, in the middle of <keyword id="11899001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword>'s federal sex crimes trial, that fans got their wish.A jury in federal court in Brooklyn learned Friday that Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah's uncle and Kelly's former manager, introduced his niece to the alleged predator <a href="https://www.insider.com/manager-forced-to-testify-r-kelly-getting-aaliyah-pregnant-2021-8">who made her his child bride.</a> That same day, Aaliyah's 1996 album "One in a Million," which - along with most of her music - had been under her uncle's control, appeared on streaming platforms for the first time. The release is part of a partnership between Hankerson's Blackground Records and independent music company EMPIRE, <a href="https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/9610793/aaliyah-music-return-streaming-services-blackground-empire/">Billboard reported earlier this month.</a>"It has been a long time since the fans could enjoy Aaliyah and other artists on our catalog, and there has been a lot of changes in the music business since we took the music off the market," Hankerson told Billboard. "We wanted to be sure to be with the right people, the right executives, and to give ourselves the right time to do the different things. So when you add all that up, it was a couple of years before we could even really consider putting the music out."Insider's attempts to contact Hankerson for comment have been unsuccessful. <h2>A release decades in the making</h2>Hankerson told Billboard that he and Aaliyah's mother, his sister, hadn't been in regular contact since his niece died in a plane crash in 2001, when she was 22 years old. He said he believed that his sister, Diane Haughton, didn't want her daughter's music to be released. Her estate had previously denied that was the case, Billboard reported.<div type="image" title="aaliyah" height="450" width="600" msid="85576508" hostid="261"></div>Hankerson said he believed <a href="https://twitter.com/AaliyahHaughton/status/1298289461227401218/photo/1">a statement released by the estate last August</a> gave him the green light to release Aaliyah's music.Since then, Aaliyah's estate has <a href="https://twitter.com/AaliyahHaughton/status/1423091902962876420/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called the release of her music</a> an "unscrupulous endeavor" and suggested it was done without the estate's involvement. The statement, which didn't mention anyone by name, referenced "forgiveness" but also took a jab at "individuals who emerged from the shadows to leech off Aaliyah's life work."<h2>Hankerson introduced R. Kelly to his niece </h2>Kelly is accused of a <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sex-crimes-trial-racketeering-allegations-explained-2021-8">long list of crimes</a>, including allegations that he and others bribed a government official to obtain a fake ID so that Kelly could marry a teenaged Aaliyah after she told him she was pregnant. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. The singer's relationship with teenage Aaliyah arose during testimony on Friday, when the singer's tour manager was forced to testify. Demetrius Smith, who acted as a personal assistant and scheduler to Kelly, reluctantly told jurors that he and Kelly first met Aaliyah in the early 1990s. Smith said Hankerson, who was Kelly's manager at the time, told them that his niece had a special talent and asked them to come to Detroit to listen to her sing. After hearing Aaliyah sing, which Smith described as "angelic," Kelly began writing and producing music with her. <div type="image" title="cook county clerk r kelly trial aaliyah marriage certificate" height="2268" width="3024" msid="85576510" hostid="261"></div>Smith testified that Kelly and Aaliyah became close, and at times he grew concerned they were "too playful." He said he confronted Kelly about whether they were "messing around," which Kelly denied. In August 1994, though, Kelly told him that they needed to go to Chicago because Aaliyah - then 15 - thought she was pregnant. Smith told the jury he paid a government official $500 to make a fake ID that made Aaliyah appear to be 18 so she could marry without her parents' permission.The marriage, Smith testified, was an attempt to protect Kelly from going "to jail."Kelly fired Hankerson sometime after he married Aaliyah, according to Smith.Aaliyah's parents annulled her underage marriage to Kelly in February 1995.

Aaliyah's uncle released her music to streaming services on the day jurors learned he introduced her to R. Kelly

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Evidence of R Kelly's marriage with Aaliyah will not be presented in his federal trial this month.</li><li>Kelly will be tried on child pornography and sexual abuse charges in Chicago.</li></ul>Evidence of R Kelly's short-lived <a href="https://www.insider.com/manager-forced-to-testify-r-kelly-getting-aaliyah-pregnant-2021-8">sham marriage to R&amp;B singer Aaliyah</a> will not appear in his upcoming Chicago federal trial on child pornography charges, according to court documents.Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sentenced-to-prison-sex-trafficking-scheme-conviction-2022-6">sentenced in New York federal court to 30 years</a> in prison in June on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges.He faces a second federal trial in Chicago on August 15 on charges of producing child pornography and the sexual abuse of six minors.Northern Illinois District Court Judge Harry D. Leinenweber ruled Wednesday on several motions about what evidence was admissible, according to court documents viewed by Insider. Leinenweber denied a motion by Kelly to exclude evidence of his marriage and alleged sexual relationship with Aaliyah on the grounds that the request was moot after the prosecution responded that it didn't intend to present evidence of the relationship, court documents show.Kelly also requested that the government not present evidence that he had infected any sexual partner with herpes or that he had impregnated any accuser or facilitated any abortions, the documents state.The government said it did not plan to present any evidence of either situation.Against Kelly's request, Judge Leinenweber did rule to allow evidence that he has previously been sued by accusers and evidence of his previous conviction in 2021.Kelly's former manager testified at his New York trial that Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson — who also managed the R&amp;B star, introduced them when she was 12 years old. Kelly and his manager Demetrius Smith flew to Aaliyah's home in Detroit in 1992 to listen to her sing — at her uncle's request. The meeting went well, Smith said, describing Aaliyah's voice as "angelic." Kelly then began writing and producing her music.Kelly illegally married Aaliyah in 1994 when he was 27 years old and she was 15 years old so she could get an abortion without permission from her parents, according to testimony at the New York trial.Multiple witnesses in Kelly's 2021 trial told the jury that <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-married-aaliyah-to-get-abortion-accuser-testifies-2021-8">Kelly bribed an Illinois government employee</a> to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah in order to marry her. Kelly's former employees, Derrel McDavid and Milton Brown, have also been charged in the case and are accused of conspiring to conceal evidence ahead of Kelly's 2008 child-porn trial in Cook County.Kelly, McDavid, and Brown have all pleaded not guilty to the Chicago charges.

Evidence of R. Kelly's sham marriage and alleged sexual abuse of Aaliyah won't come up in his Chicago trial

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11899001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword>'s former tour manager was forced to testify about the night R. Kelly learned 15-year-old <keyword id="11911851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword> was pregnant.</li><li>The manager said he bribed an official for a fake ID so Kelly could marry the teen. </li><li>Demetrius Smith tried to plead the fifth, but was ordered to take the stand.</li></ul>Demetrius Smith, R. Kelly's former tour manager, was ordered to take the stand Friday to tell jurors about the night the singer learned he had gotten 15-year-old Aaliyah pregnant. Smith, who started working with Kelly in the '80s when he was performing at talent shows and in subway stations, tried to assert his Fifth Amendment privilege not to self-incriminate, but was granted immunity from prosecution and ordered on Friday to testify against the singer.Kelly is on trial for a <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sex-crimes-trial-racketeering-allegations-explained-2021-8">long list of alleged crimes,</a> including charges related to bribing a government official to obtain a fake ID so he could take Aaliyah as his child bride. Smith reluctantly admitted that he was the man who found and paid the official - a welfare office employee - for the ID so Kelly could marry Aaliyah and avoid prosecution for having sex with a minor.Kelly denies any wrongdoing.Throughout his time on the stand, Smith pushed back at the prosecution's questioning. He said he didn't want to be there and that he was "uncomfortable" talking about Aaliyah without her parents there."I feel like I'm on trial for Aaliyah. Shit," he said, at one point. Judge Ann Donnelly insisted he answer, and Smith shared details about the illegal relationship between young Aaliyah and Kelly. It is illegal for an adult to have sex with a 15-year-old in Michigan and Illinois.Smith said he and Kelly met the Aaliyah through her uncle, Barry Hankerson, who was also Kelly's manager. Kelly and Smith flew to Aaliyah's home in Detroit in 1992 to listen to her sing - at her uncle's request. The meeting went well, Smith said, describing Aaliyah's voice as "angelic." Kelly then began writing and producing her music.Smith first told the court Friday that Kelly's time with Aaliyah, including when Kelly asked to be alone with her, was all about her music, but then the prosecution pressed him on the issue, showing him his prior Grand Jury testimony.Eventually, Smith admitted that he had confronted Kelly at least once about his relationship with Aaliyah after feeling they were "too playful." He recalled at one point asking Kelly if he was "messing around" with her.Smith said he believed Kelly when he denied that was the case, but then one night in the middle of a performance in Orlando in August of 1994, Kelly made him immediately arrange for travel back to his home in Chicago."Aaliyah's in trouble, man. We need to get home," Smith testified that Kelly told him that night.<div type="image" title="cook county clerk r kelly trial aaliyah marriage certificate" height="2268" width="3024" msid="85506216" hostid="261"></div><h2>Bribery and a marriage</h2>Smith testified at first, Kelly didn't share any details about what was wrong with Aaliyah, but ordered him to book a round-trip flight. Smith said he wanted to call Hankerson to see what was going on with Aaliyah, but was told not to. After the show, Kelly, Smith, and other employees boarded a plane to Chicago and the singer "cried a lot," admitting to Smith that Aaliyah was pregnant, he testified."That was a shock," Smith told the court.Kelly told Smith that his other manager, Derrel McDavid, was making arrangements for the singer to marry the teenager, "to protect himself, to protect Aaliyah," Smith testified.When asked what Kelly would be protecting himself against, Smith responded: "Shit. Jail, I guess."When the plane landed in Chicago, Smith said he urged Kelly not to try and marry the teenager. "She was too young. He was confused," Smith recalled.But then Kelly started asking Smith whose "side" he was on, and the tour manager started to feel like he was being pushed out of the singer's life.To avoid losing his place in Kelly's inner circle, Smith told the singer, McDavid, and Aaliyah that he knew how to get the teenager a fake ID that made her look old enough to legally marry the singer.He then went to a local welfare office and offered a woman $500 to make her an ID. The group then went to a nearby FedEx or similar shipping store and had an associate make the teen a fake employment ID as backup, before Kelly and Aaliyah went to the Cook County clerk's office to apply for a marriage license.The clerk accepted the IDs, and the group went back to the hotel suite where a minister performed a ceremony to marry them, Smith said.A marriage license shown to the jury Friday indicated they were wed on August 31, 1994. Aaliyah's age was listed as 18 - three years older than her actual age.Aaliyah's underage marriage to Kelly was annulled in February 1995 by her parents. She died six years later, at 22, in a plane crash off the Bahamas. Court went into recess for the weekend at 5:30 p.m. and the prosecution plans to continue questioning Smith Monday morning. Kelly's trial is expected to last four weeks.

R. Kelly's former tour manager was forced to testify, said the singer got 15-year-old Aaliyah pregnant

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="11899001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword> told his girlfriends he married <keyword id="11911851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword> so she could get an abortion, one woman testified.</li><li>Kelly married Aaliyah in 1994 when she was only 15, according to documents presented at trial.</li><li>He said it was the only way to end her pregnancy without her parents' consent, according to the woman.</li></ul>A former live-in girlfriend to R. Kelly testified that the singer told her and other women he was having sex with that he married R&amp;B star Aaliyah when she was just 15 so that she could get an abortion. Kelly is on trial for a <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sex-crimes-trial-racketeering-allegations-explained-2021-8">long list of allegations</a>, including claims he and others bribed a government official to obtain a fake ID so Kelly could take Aaliyah as his child bride. Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.A woman identified in court by the pseudonym "Jane" testified on Monday that Kelly, who maintained strict control over the lives of his partners, once took her and his other "girlfriends" to a park and told them they could ask him whatever they wanted. She said that most of the questions focused on Kelly's relationship with Aaliyah, including accusations that he married her in 1994.Kelly said he married Aaliyah because she was underage and needed the permission of her parents or "a spouse" to get an abortion, the woman testified."Jane," an aspiring singer who began having sex with Kelly <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-accuser-details-abortion-bizarre-rules-shocking-testimony-2021-8">and moved in with him</a> when she was only 17, also testified that Kelly forced her to get an abortion in 2017. The testimony came a day after Kelly's former tour manager told jurors about the night the sham marriage to Aaliyah was executed. <a href="https://www.insider.com/manager-forced-to-testify-r-kelly-getting-aaliyah-pregnant-2021-8">Demetrius Smith</a> was forced to take the stand Friday after he attempted to assert his Fifth Amendment right not to self-incriminate. <div type="image" title="Aaliyah R. Kelly Marriage" height="966" width="1352" msid="85611491" hostid="261"></div>Smith testified that he and Kelly met Aaliyah through her uncle, Barry Hankerson, who was also Kelly's manager at the time. After flying to her home in Detroit to meet the young teen and her parents, Kelly began writing and producing music with her. The two became close, and Smith told the jury he began to worry they were being "too playful." He said he even confronted Kelly about whether he was "messing around" with the minor, which the singer initially denied. Then in August 1994, Smith said Kelly ordered him to book a flight home from a tour in Orlando after Aaliyah told Kelly she believed she was pregnant.When they arrived back in Chicago, Smith paid a government official $500 to make Aaliyah a fake ID so she could marry Kelly without her parents' permission. The two were married by a minister in a hotel room that night before Kelly and his crew returned to Orlando, Smith said.Smith testified that Kelly's other managers organized the wedding to "protect" both Kelly and Aaliyah. When a prosecutor asked what Kelly needed protection from, Smith answered, "Shit. Jail, I guess."Aaliyah and Kelly's marriage was annulled in 1995. She died six years later, at 22, when the plane she was traveling in crashed off the Bahamas.

R. Kelly said he married Aaliyah so the minor could get an abortion, according to one of his accusers

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Witnesses in <keyword id="11899001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="r-kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword>'s sex crimes trial have testified about their fascination with <keyword id="11911851" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword>.</li><li>The singer became Kelly's protege as a teenager, and the two were secretly married when she was just 15.</li><li>Many of the accusers in the ongoing trial also said Kelly promised to help with their music careers.</li></ul>A few years before being <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sex-crimes-trial-racketeering-allegations-explained-2021-8">indicted on more than a dozen federal sex crimes charges</a>, R. Kelly gathered his several girlfriends together one day as they hung out in a park.He normally had strict rules governing their conversations: The girlfriends were to praise him constantly and could talk among each other about light subjects like hair, nails, and sex. But they couldn't have personal discussions around each other.On this occasion, he relaxed the usual rules and told them they could ask him anything they wanted.They all had the same question: What was it like to be with Aaliyah?The R&amp;B prodigy had died in a plane crash more than a decade earlier, in 2002. She was also, at one point, Kelly's protege and wife. The women were dying to know what she was like."We asked many questions. All of us took turns and we asked him about that situation and why they got married," one pseudonymous accuser, <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-married-aaliyah-to-get-abortion-accuser-testifies-2021-8">"Jane," testified last week during Kelly's trial.</a><h2>Prosecutors say Kelly arranged an illegal marriage with Aaliyah</h2>Kelly's marriage to Aaliyah in 1994 - when she was 15 and he was 27 - plays a role in one of the charges against the singer.Indictments filed by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in 2019 mainly accuse Kelly of directing employees to procure women for sex, and then sexually abusing the women under his control. But there is one charge that stands apart: He's accused of directing an employee to bribe a government official to falsify an ID for Aaliyah and misrepresent her age.Aaliyah's career was brief but canonical in R&amp;B music. She released three albums in her lifetime, all of which were critically acclaimed and sold millions of copies.Her career got its start in the early 1990s when she was 12 years old and <a href="https://www.insider.com/aaliyah-uncle-releases-her-music-during-r-kelly-trial-2021-8">her uncle Barry Hankerson introduced her to Kelly, who he managed</a>, and signed her to Jive Records. Kelly acted as a musical mentor for Aaliyah and produced all the songs on her 1994 debut album, "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number."<div type="image" title="cook county clerk r kelly trial aaliyah marriage certificate" height="2268" width="3024" msid="85869881" hostid="261"></div>A few months after the album release, in August 1994, Kelly was distraught.<a href="https://www.insider.com/manager-forced-to-testify-r-kelly-getting-aaliyah-pregnant-2021-8">Fearful he had impregnated Aaliyah</a> - who was still a teenager - <a href="https://www.insider.com/manager-forced-to-testify-r-kelly-getting-aaliyah-pregnant-2021-8">Kelly wanted to make sure she would get an abortion</a>, according to several witnesses who testified in the singer's ongoing trial. But he believed that, because of Aaliyah's age, she would need permission from a parent or a spouse.So he <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-married-aaliyah-to-get-abortion-accuser-testifies-2021-8">cooked up a scheme</a> where he'd marry Aaliyah, prosecutors allege. His manager at the time, Demetrius Smith, testified that he paid a Chicago government official $500 to <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-lawyer-says-aaliyah-cant-testify-because-shes-dead-2021-8">make a fake ID for Aaliyah</a> saying she was 18 so that she could get married.Kelly left his tour to fly back to Chicago, whisked Aaliyah into a hotel suite, and arranged a secret marriage ceremony for the two of them, according to witnesses. It wasn't very romantic: They wore matching jumpsuits and <a href="https://www.insider.com/minister-describes-marrying-r-kelly-aaliyah-2021-9">the whole thing took ten minutes</a>, the minister testified Wednesday.<h2>Kelly's accusers had musical ambitions of their own</h2>In 2021, with the hindsight of <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jimderogatis/parents-told-police-r-kelly-is-keeping-women-in-a-cult">years of reporting</a> on <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-sexual-abuse-and-child-porn-allegation-2019-1">decades of sexual misconduct allegations against Kelly</a>, his relationship with Aaliyah is a sordid story.But for a teenage fan of Kelly, it's possible to see it from a different angle: Kelly had the power to lift the career of a talented young musician to unimaginable heights.If Kelly took a liking to you, not only were you in the high-flying orbit of a charismatic <keyword id="6355064" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="celebrity" source="Orion">celebrity</keyword>, but you could see a glimmer of your own superstar career on the horizon.The promise wasn't lost on Kelly's accusers as they testified in court.<a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-accuser-details-abortion-bizarre-rules-shocking-testimony-2021-8">Jane described</a> how a member of Kelly's entourage gave her his phone number at a 2015 concert she attended as a 17-year-old. While she harbored no romantic interest in Kelly, Jane said, she had a fledgling music career. She was a member of a selective singing group in high school and performed for charity benefits on weekends. Jane texted and Facetimed with Kelly, hoping he could critique her work. <div type="image" title="r kelly trial accuser deveraux cannick" height="2268" width="3024" msid="85869884" hostid="261"></div>At Kelly's behest, Jane agreed to meet for an "audition" at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel in Orlando. She testified that Kelly made it clear at the hotel that he wouldn't listen to her sing without first sexually satisfying himself. Kelly persisted even when she declined and, after sexually assaulting her, listened to the accuser sing "Mamma Knows Best" by Jessie J., Jane said.Kelly appeared impressed by the performance, she said, and said he wanted to meet again to offer mentorship, promising that multiple visits would help advance her music career.Jane was not the only accuser who gravitated toward Kelly because of career ambition. Many of the people who testified against Kelly met him as teenagers who attended high schools specializing in performing arts. One woman who said Kelly sexually assaulted her <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-accused-sexual-assault-2-days-after-aaliyah-marriage-2021-8">was an aspiring dancer</a>. Another woman said she met with Kelly <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-accuser-describes-trying-to-get-sex-tapes-destroyed-2021-8">in hopes of getting an audition for her best friend, who was an aspiring singer</a>.Kelly's celebrity could blind the accusers' parents, too. The accuser who sang for Kelly in that Disney World hotel room hadn't initially planned to contact the singer, but her mother started a conversation about an audition with him. Aaliyah had Hankerson, a family connection in the music industry, who brought her to Kelly. The parents of Kelly's accusers may have understood that they could play such a role themselves.<h2>Kelly ultimately did nothing to help accusers' careers</h2>Jane's parents sought to play a personal role in Kelly's entertainment machine. She testified that they proposed business projects: a food truck, a "Bluetooth dildo" that "would sync to his music."But Kelly never replicated his success with Aaliyah, nor did he have any apparent desire to do so.Prosecutors repeatedly asked the accusers what, if anything, Kelly had done to advance their music careers after months or years of alleged sexual abuse. They all <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-trial-man-accuses-singer-of-sexual-assault-2021-8">gave the same answer</a>: "Nothing."<div type="image" title="louis r kelly trial" height="2268" width="3024" msid="85869888" hostid="261"></div>Occasionally, after repeated sexual encounters, accusers said Kelly would agree to sit in on auditions.The <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-trial-man-accuses-singer-of-sexual-assault-2021-8">first male accuser to testify in the trial</a> persuaded Kelly to listen to a song he made. Kelly didn't seem impressed, the accuser testified, and turned it off after five seconds. But the accuser still lingered in the singer's orbit and said he endured repeated sexual abuse.But the accuser, testifying under a pseudonym, said on the stand that he was undeterred. He had a few singles on Spotify.None of the songs had more than a few hundred streams. Still, he said, he harbors hopes that he'll make it in the music industry.

R. Kelly's sham marriage to Aaliyah foreshadowed decades of sexual abuse allegations

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A jury on Monday found <keyword id="934798" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="R-Kelly" source="Orion">R. Kelly</keyword> guilty on all counts in his sex crimes trial in New York.</li><li>Kelly was accused of running a criminal enterprise that transported and coerced women and girls for sex.</li><li>Here's a breakdown of Kelly's crimes, which spanned from 1994 to his arrest in 2019.</li></ul>After five weeks of harrowing testimony and about 10 hours of jury deliberations, <a href="https://www.insider.com/r-kelly-verdict-sex-crimes-trial-2021-9">R. Kelly has been convicted</a> of federal racketeering and sex-trafficking charges.While Kelly - whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly - was originally charged in July 2019, the coronavirus pandemic delayed the singer's long-awaited sex crimes trial in New York until August. The trial hinged on accusations that fell under two areas of the law: Racketeering, which is most commonly used to prosecute mobsters and organized criminals, and Mann Act violations. The Mann Act is a federal law that criminalizes the transportation of women and girls for illegal sex. After being convicted on these charges, Kelly now faces 10 years to life in prison.The R&amp;B singer was accused of running a criminal enterprise comprised of his employees and entourage that recruited and transported women and girls to be sexually abused by him, according to the indictment. Prosecutors alleged that Kelly abused 20 Jane Does and two John Does, but the indictment only referred specifically to six women or girls. Kelly is still facing additional federal sex <keyword id="39494" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Crime" source="Orion">crime</keyword> charges in Illinois, as well as state child prostitution charges in Minnesota. Here's a breakdown of all the counts in the New York case: <h2>Racketeering</h2>While the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act - which is known as RICO - usually brings to mind mobsters or gang activity, it has a much broader use.In Kelly's case, prosecutors said he ran a criminal enterprise consisting of his managers, bodyguards, drivers, and assistants. The government charged Kelly with 14 acts of racketeering from 1994 until the time of his arrest in July 2019. <div type="image" title="A courtroom sketch of R. Kelly in a blue suit." height="2268" width="3024" msid="85415662" hostid="261"></div>Prosecutors said Kelly's employees identified women and girls to engage in illegal sex with the singer. When Kelly picked out someone at a concert that he wished to have sex with, people who worked for him would give the woman or girl a wristband to go backstage, according to the indictment.Court documents say the enterprise would also arrange for the women to travel to see Kelly around the US, and took steps to ensure that the multiple women Kelly arranged to see didn't run into each other during their trips.<h2>Bribery</h2>The racketeering allegation involving bribery stemmed from one of Kelly's more high-profile schemes: his marriage to the late singer <keyword id="904106" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Aaliyah" source="Orion">Aaliyah</keyword>.Prosecutors said that on August 30, 1994, R. Kelly and others bribed a public official in the Northern District of Illinois with cash to create a fake ID for an individual identified in court documents as Jane Doe 1. Jane Doe 1 has been widely reported to have been Aaliyah, who married R. Kelly the day after the bribe was allegedly made.<div type="image" title="aaliyah" height="450" width="600" msid="85415663" hostid="261"></div>Aaliyah was 15 at the time, but a marriage certificate had identified her as 18. Aaliyah was introduced to R. Kelly by her uncle and record producer, Barry Hankerson, when she was a child. She died in 2001, at 22 years old, when her plane crashed shortly after taking off in the Bahamas.<h2>Kidnapping</h2>Also an act of racketeering, prosecutors said R. Kelly kidnapped a woman identified in court documents only as Jane Doe #3 in 2003 or 2004. Prosecutors said that this victim was used for sexual purposes and given a controlled substance while being held against her will.<h2>Sexual exploitation of a child</h2>Prosecutors said Kelly sexually exploited three children while running the enterprise. Prosecutors said Kelly abused the first child, who was identified in court documents as Jane Doe #2, in Illinois between May and October 1999. They said Kelly and others used the child to produce one or more visual depictions of illegal sexual conduct that was then mailed or transported between states. <div type="image" title="R Kelly" height="2000" width="3000" msid="85415664" hostid="261"></div>Kelly and others used a second child, Jane Doe 4, for the same purpose in Illinois between May 2009 and January 2010, according to the indictment. And Visual depictions of a sex act with a the third child, Jane Doe 5, were made in California between September and December of 2015, according to prosecutors.<h2>Forced labor</h2>Prosecutors also said Kelly used force, physical restraint, and threats to pressure three of his sexual partners to work for him.The indictment lists Jane Does 4, 5, and 6 as victims of forced labor, which is an act of racketeering. <h2>Mann Act violations </h2>Allegations that Kelly and his team made travel arrangements for Jane Does 3, 4, 5, and 6 to cross state lines for sex, and coerced them into having sex, were charged under the Mann Act. The act criminalizes the interstate transportation of women and girls for illegal sexual purposes. Jane Doe 4 was under 17 and Jane Doe 5 was under 18 at the time that Kelly had illegal sex with them, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said the fact that they were minors at the time made the travel a violation of the Mann Act.Prosecutors also said that Kelly had sex with Jane Does 5 and 6 without telling them he had a positive herpes diagnosis, <a href="https://www.insider.com/hiv-aids-advocates-oppose-laws-criminalize-stis-r-kelly-trial-2021-8">which is a violation of New York public health law</a>. Violating that underlying New York law makes the transportation and coercion a Mann Act violation.

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A federal judge named Aaliyah's uncle in list of people who saw to R. Kelly's 'professional and personal needs'

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

Aaliyah's uncle released her music to streaming services on the day jurors learned he introduced her to R. Kelly

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

Evidence of R. Kelly's sham marriage and alleged sexual abuse of Aaliyah won't come up in his Chicago trial

Kenneth Niemeyer,Haven Orecch…

R. Kelly's former tour manager was forced to testify, said the singer got 15-year-old Aaliyah pregnant

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

R. Kelly said he married Aaliyah so the minor could get an abortion, according to one of his accusers

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

R. Kelly's sham marriage to Aaliyah foreshadowed decades of sexual abuse allegations

Jacob Shamsian

Here's a breakdown of allegations in R. Kelly's sex crimes trial, from running a criminal enterprise to bribing an official to give Aaliyah a fake ID

Haven Orecchio-Egresitz

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