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R Kelly's 'friends' charged with threatening witnesses who accused R&B singer of sexual assault

A file phot of R Kelly leaving the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago last year: Getty Images
A file phot of R Kelly leaving the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago last year: Getty Images

Three men said to be friends of R Kelly have been charged with threatening and intimidating women who accused the R&B singer of abuse.

Federal prosecutors announced charges for the men on Wednesday. The trio includes one man who is suspected of setting fire to a vehicle in Florida.

A long-time friend of the indicted singer offered to pay a victim 500,000 dollars to keep her from co-operating in Kelly’s prosecution, authorities said, while a manager and adviser of Kelly is accused of threatening to release sexually explicit photographs of a woman who sued the musician.

The Grammy-award winner has denied any abuse and pleaded not guilty to dozens of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota and New York.

The charges range from sexual assault to heading a racketeering scheme aimed at supplying Kelly with girls. He is also accused of having unprotected sex with a girl in 2015 without disclosing he had herpes.

R Kelly, pictured at a hearing at in Chicago in 2019, where he pleaded not guilty to bribery (AP)
R Kelly, pictured at a hearing at in Chicago in 2019, where he pleaded not guilty to bribery (AP)

Kelly's defence lawyer Steve Greenberg said the singer denied any involvement in attempts to silence the witnesses.

He said on Twitter: "We just learned of the charging of several so called 'associates' of R. Kelly. Without question, Robert Kelly had nothing to do with any of these alleged acts by those charged.

"He hasn’t attempted to intimidate anyone, or encouraged anyone else to do so. No involvement whatsoever."

Prosecutors described a third man accused of intimidating witnesses as being related to a former Kelly publicist.

They said Michael Williams, 37, of Georgia, travelled to Florida in June and set fire to an SUV parked outside a residence where one of Kelly’s victims was staying.

Williams also conducted internet searches for “the detonation properties of fertiliser and diesel fuel, witness intimidation and witness tampering and countries that do not have extradition with the United States”, authorities said.

“The men charged today allegedly have shown that there is no line they will not cross to help Kelly avoid the consequences of his alleged crimes – even if it means re-victimizing his accusers,” Peter Fitzhugh, special agent in charge of the Homeland Security Investigations in New York, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Also charged were two Illinois men with ties to Kelly. His longtime friend, Richard Arline Jr, 31, is accused of offering to pay off a woman he believed had “too much” incriminating information against Kelly.

Authorities said they set up a wiretap and recorded a call in which Arline claimed he had spoken with Kelly behind bars during a three-way call.

Donnell Russell, 45, of Chicago, is charged with harassing a Kelly victim and her mother after the unidentified woman filed a lawsuit against Kelly.

Authorities said Russell, a manager and adviser to Kelly, sent a letter to the woman’s lawyer with cropped nude photographs of her and later sent her a text warning her: “Pull the plug or you will be exposed.”

Additional reporting by agencies.

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