RnB singer, Robert kelly, aka R. Kelly, has been ordered by a US judge to forfeit his music royalties with UMG in order to pay sexual abuse victims. Majority of Kelly’s assets owned by Universal are covered by the decision, although issues regarding Kelly’s assets held by his former label, Sony, remain.
To assist in covering his victim’s reparations and fines, R. Kelly and Universal Music Group will be required to hand up over $500,000 in music royalties to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. The business has served as the multi-platinum recording artist’s longterm music publisher.
According to Bloomberg Law, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly issued an order on August 23 requiring Universal Music Group to deliver the funds needed to settle the fines R. Kelly still owes. Kelly was previously required to deposit just under $28,000 into his prison prisoner account to satisfy Donnelly’s fine payment order.
Following his racketeering and sex trafficking convictions in New York in 2021, R. Kelly is currently serving a 30-year sentence. The disgraced R&B artist, UMG, and Sony Music Entertainment were given the $50,000 bill to be paid to sexual assault victims as part of his sentencing in 2022. In that document, it was stated that Sony and UMG were both thought to be “in possession of property” that belonged to Kelly and totaled the $504,289 that Kelly is currently required to pay in restitution fees and criminal charges. However, according to the most recent decision, Sony Music will no longer be required to pay this particular fee because R. Kelly’s revenues from Universal would cover it.
In September 2021, the singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, 56, was found guilty on nine counts of sex trafficking and racketeering after a six-week trial revealed how he had recruited fans and aspiring musicians into controlling and sexually abusive situations, including locking them in rooms without food or access to a toilet for days. In addition, he was convicted on three charges of forcing juveniles into sexual conduct and three counts of making sex recordings with minors.
The sum of Kelly’s nearly 30-year history of claims is this news. His career and the allegations against him persisted until the early 2010s, when they reappeared. Then, in 2019, a Lifetime documentary titled “Surviving R. Kelly,” which featured vivid accounts from his alleged victims, dramatically changed public opinion against him despite largely repeating information that had been widely known for a long time. By the time he was put behind bars, his sizable touring and recording revenue, which had supported the legal representation and other defence strategies, had largely dried up.
