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R&B star R Kelly was charged Friday in Chicago with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse, some involving minors.
Nine of the charges of the 52-year-old embattled singer – dogged for decades by sexual abuse allegations involving underage women – concern minors ages 13 to 16, a Cook County court official told AFP.
The bombshell development comes as the artist – real name Robert Sylvester Kelly – has faced renewed public scrutiny after a scathing docu-series shed new light on his checkered past.
The R&B luminary has a court date scheduled for 8 March in Chicago, where he resides, the court official said.
Kelly – known for hits like I Believe I Can Fly – over the years has faced a slew of lawsuits and accusations over child pornography, sex with minors, operating a sex cult and sexual battery.
“After 25 years of serial sexual abuse and assault of underage girls, the day of reckoning for R Kelly has arrived,” tweeted attorney Michael Avenatti, who is representing several clients linked to the American singer.
Last week, Avenatti – who also represents a porn star locked in a legal battle with President Donald Trump – announced his office had uncovered previously unreleased footage of Kelly having sex with a young girl that the lawyer gave to the Cook County State’s Attorney.
It is the second time Cook County prosecutors have charged Kelly with a sex crime: after a dramatic trial that also involved a sex tape, the musician was acquitted of 21 counts of child pornography in 2008.
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