The feds want to garnish R. Kelly's royalty payments and give the money to 2 of his victims
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
- Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn filed two writs of garnishment Thursday for R. Kelly's royalties.
- The prosecutors said Kelly has so far "failed" to satisfy his debt of over $520,000.
- The feds said they have already seized over $27,000 from Kelly's inmate trust account.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are seeking to garnish R&B singer R. Kelly's royalty payments, and turn the money over to two of the victims of his sex trafficking and racketeering scheme, according to court documents filed Thursday.
Prosecutors filed two writs of garnishment on Thursday addressed to Kelly, as well as Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Publishing, noting that Kelly has so far "failed" to satisfy his debt of $520,549.90.
Kelly was convicted in 2021 in Brooklyn of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He was also convicted last September in federal court in Chicago of coercing minors into criminal sexual activity and producing child pornography. He was given a 20-year prison sentence in the Chicago case, 19 years of which will run concurrently to the New York sentence.
The New York judge last year ordered Kelly to pay over $520,000, including nearly $380,000 in restitution to two victims, who were identified only as Jane and Stephanie, and $140,000 in fines and penalties.
In a statement on Thursday, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that they have already collected $27,828.24 from garnishing Kelly's inmate trust account last year.
"He currently owes $504,289.73, including interest," the statement said. "Interest is continuing to accrue."
An attorney representing Kelly did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Kelly has appealed both of his federal convictions, as of last month, and is asking for his convictions to be overturned or to be granted new trials.
In the New York appeal, Kelly's attorneys argued in part that a number of the jurors who convicted their client had seen the hit Netflix documentary series "Surviving R. Kelly" and were familiar with allegations that Kelly had sexually abused underage girls.
The appeal argued that Kelly's previous defense attorneys had failed to disqualify the jurors who had admitted to being familiar with the allegations against Kelly.