Late last month, an Illinois judge ordered Sony to relinquish all the money in R. Kelly’s royalties account — $1.5 million — to a Wisconsin-based property management company who the jailed singer owes for unpaid rent.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the large payout will be made to Midwest Commercial Funding, the company Kelly, 53, has yet to compensate for unpaid rent and repair costs. Earlier this year, Kelly was ordered to pay $3.5 million for a studio he rented in Chicago.
A woman who accused Kelly of sexual abuse and was awarded $4 million in March also staked a claim to the singer’s royalties account, according to the news outlet.
Both the alleged victim and Midwest Commercial Funding notified Sony in August. Cook County Judge Patrick Heneghan ruled the property management company is entitled to the money in Kelly’s royalties account because Sony acknowledged their correspondence first, the Sun-Times reported.
Heneghan also placed a lien on Kelly’s royalties account, meaning Midwest Commercial Funding is entitled to any money deposited in the account until they receive their entire judgment.
According to the news outlet, the judge said once the company is completely compensated, any money deposited in the singer’s royalties account will go to the alleged victim until her $4 million judgment is paid.
The accuser’s lawyer, Jeffrey Deutschman, told the Sun-Times that the property management company rejected an initial offer to take $1 million from Kelly’s royalties account and leave the balance for his client.
“They want all of it,” Deutschman said. “They have their building, but my client lost her childhood to a sexual predator.”
Kelly has been jailed in Illinois since July 2019 for 26 federal charges which include child pornography, obstruction of justice, and sexual abuse of a minor. He is also facing 21 sex-related criminal charges in Cook County. The state charges reportedly stem from allegations dating back to 1998 and involve at least three underage girls.
Additionally, Kelly is facing multiple federal charges in New York for allegedly infecting a woman and minor girl with herpes, racketeering, and sex trafficking that reportedly crossed state lines.
In August 2019, authorities in Minnesota charged Kelly with two counts of prostitution with a person under 18 in connection with an alleged 2001 incident.
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[Featured image: R. Kelly/Chicago Police Department]
