Timeline of R Kelly allegations as sex trafficking trial begins

Jury selection has begun in the R Kelly trial (Picture: Antonio Perez – Pool via Getty Images)

R Kelly’s sex trafficking trial begins today, after numerous delays.

The 54-year-old singer has been locked up since he was indicted two years ago on charges of racketeering based on sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor and Mann Act violations.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

Today, a judge in federal court in Brooklyn will question potential jurors for the trial.

The trial is being put into motion after a number of Covid-19 related delays and over two decades of allegations against the R&B superstar, who was previously acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008.

As Kelly prepares to go to trial, here is a look back at the timeline of allegations against the star. 

1994: Marriage to Aaliyah

Kelly met rising R&B sensation Aaliyah, the teenage niece of his manager, in the early 1990s, and produced her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number.

In August 1994, Kelly, then 27, married Aaliyah, who was 15 years old, in Chicago, with the teenager’s age listed as 18 on their wedding certificate.

In the documentary Surviving R Kelly, Demetrius Smith, a former personal assistant to the singer, said: ‘I had papers forged for them. But Aaliyah was underage.’ 

Kelly married Aaliyah when she was 15 (Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

In December 2019, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Kelly of bribing a government employee in order to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah. 

In the last pre-trial hearing before his trial, US District Judge Ann M Donnelly ruled that the jury will be allowed to hear how Kelly allegedly had sexual contact with Aaliyah when she was underage, after the defence conceded that ‘Mr Kelly had underage sexual contact with Jane Doe #1.”’. 

1996-2002: Lawsuits filed against Kelly

At least four separate lawsuits were filed against Kelly in this time, with the first coming in December 1996 from Tiffany ‘Tia’ Hawkins, who alleged that she and Kelly had sex when he was 24 and she was 15. 

Two years Hawkins sued for $10million, Kelly settled with her for $250,000, in the same year that he won three Grammys for his signature song, I Believe I Can Fly.

Kelly also settled with Tracy Sampson in 2001 out of court, after she alleged that Kelly coerced her into having sex with him when she was 17 years old.

In 2002, two lawsuits were filed against the singer, both of which were settled outside of court 0 one woman alleged she was underage when she was impregnated by Kelly and forced to have an abortion, while another woman alleged that she was taped during sex without her knowledge. 

2002: Indictment on child pornography counts

In June 2002, Kelly was indicted by a grand jury on 21 child pornography counts in Chicago, in the same year that the Chicago Sun-Times began investigating a video tape which was anonymously left in the mail at report Jim DeRogatis’s home, allegedly showing Kelly having sex with a teenage girl and urinating on her.

All of the charges, including intercourse, oral sex, urination, and other sexual acts, related to one girl who was born in September 1984. 

Kelly denied the charges and pleaded not guilty in court. During the time between his indictment and the case going to trial, the singer released his hugely successful Trapped In The Closet album.

In June 2008, a jury acquitted Kelly of all charges, as they concluded they could not prove that the girl on the tape was a minor.

Kelly was acquitted of child pornography charges (Picture: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

2017: ‘Cult’ allegations and #MuteRKelly

In July 2017, Buzzfeed published a report accusing Kelly of trapping six women in a sex ‘cult’, dictating ‘what they eat, how they dress, when they bathe, when they sleep, and how they engage in sexual encounters that he records’, and barring them from contacting friends or family.

Kelly strenuously denied the allegations. 

The allegations came from the parents of several of the women, who claimed that their daughters had basically vanished, as well as three former employees.

Following the report, the #MuteRKelly campaign gained steam, as people campaigned for radio stations to stop playing Kelly’s music.

2019: Surviving R Kelly

In 2019, Lifetime aired the shocking documentary Surviving R Kelly, which featured testimony from his accusers and gave a harrowing and comprehensive look at the allegations agains the singers. 

The six part series led to Kelly being dropped by his record company, with concerts in the US and New Zealand cancelled.

Kelly has pleaded not guilty in the Chicago and Brooklyn cases (Picture: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

2019: Charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse

In the same year, prosecutors in Cook County, Chicago, charged Kelly with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, with three of the four people identified as the victims in the case being between the ages of 13 and 16 when the alleged events occurred. 

Prosecutors later filed an additional 11 charges of sexual assault and abuse against a minor aged between 13 and 16. 

Kelly pleaded not guilty and in an interview with CBS This Morning, he said he was ‘fighting for his life’.

There is currently no trial date set for these counts.

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2019: Federal charges

In July 2019, Kelly was arrested again in Chicago, with prosecutors announcing a 13-count indictment that included enticement of a minor, obstruction of justice and child pornography.

On the same day, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn unsealed a separate indictment, with charges including racketeering based on sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor and Mann Act violations. The Mann Act criminalises the transportation of ‘any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose’.

These charges – from the case that begins today – involve five unnamed women, three of whom were underage at the time of the alleged events.

If convicted, Kelly could face up to 20 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.

The federal case in Chicago is on hold. 

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