Federal prosecutors in the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial have proffered new allegations of sexual abuse and bribery against Kelly. According to the Associated Press, the new court filing from Friday accuses Kelly of physical and sexual abuse, threats, and mistreatment against over a dozen additional victims; the case was already built around charges of Kelly’s alleged abuse of six women and girls that he recruited and controlled for sex and pornography.
Among the people listed in the new filing is a 17-year-old boy “whom Kelly met at a McDonald’s in December 2006 and later invited to his Chicago studio.†The prosecutors’ court filing claims that Kelly propositioned and had sexual contact with the boy while he was still underage. Furthermore, when Kelly was facing trial for child pornography in 2008, he told the youth to contact a juror “and vouch he was a ‘good guy.’†Jury selection for this trial is set to start August 9 in New York federal court.