R. Kelly charged with 10 counts of sexual abuse

R&B superstar R. Kelly has been officially charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

According to the Chicago Sun, Cook County Friday morning, records show his first court date is listed as March 8.

Sources told the Sun-Times that Cook County prosecutors were appearing before a judge Friday afternoon to sign off on an arrest warrant for Kelly.

The charges come after celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti, last week, said last he obtained a 40 minutes video showing R. Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl. He added that he’d handed the video to Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago.

On Thursday, two women – Latresa Scaff, 40, and Rochelle Washington, 39 – at a news conference organised by their lawyer Gloria Allred, accused Kelly of sexual assault and misconduct when they were 16 and 15. They said they met him after a concert in the mid 90s and he asked them for a threesome. They added that he later had sex with Scaff.

A 2019 Lifetime documentary – Surviving R. Kelly – also had interviews with some of the singer’s alleged victims and instigated a movement to boycott his music. His record label RCA later dropped him.

R. Kelly  in 2017, was accused of running a “sex cult” and has frequently denied all allegations.