US$1.2 million found in hidden account controlled by R. Kelly

Prosecutors in charge of R. Kelly’s case have justified diving deep into his finances by pointing to an account with $1.2 million that he reportedly opened under the name of another party.

After notifying authorities that he had no source of income, R.Kelly repeatedly opened the account and the singer is said to have been recorded in prison phone calls ordering the person the account was named after “to receive payments indirectly for Kelly.”

Kelly last year reportedly opened a bank account in the name of an individual who also incorporated a business called SomeBrotherLuv LLC in March 2019. The next month, Kelly allegedly assigned his music royalties to the company, and Kelly’s royalties began to flow into its account.

Kelly has spent over a year in federal custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago and was set to start trial this fall. He is accused of child pornography and obstruction of justice in Chicago, while Brooklyn courts charged him with racketeering.

Last month, the singer accused prosecutors of delving, without cause, too deep into his financial records.

In response, prosecutors said they had only done so because of the crooner’s history of financial manipulation.

“…over the course of 20 years, Kelly paid money to others, including Minor 1, Minor 1’s family, McDavid, and Individuals B, C, and D, in exchange for them to lie about Kelly’s sexual abuse of minors or their efforts to collect and conceal child pornography involving Kelly’s abuse of minors,” the filing stated.

It further noted that: “Kelly made many of these payments through an attorney. During the course of its investigation, the Government issued subpoenas to banks for accounts from which these payments were made and for accounts that received these payments, collecting evidence proving who was paid and that Kelly or his businesses were the source of the payments.”