American singer and producer Robert Sylvester Kelly alias R. Kelly faces up to life imprisonment after the court found him guilty of leading a sex crime ring for decades.
Kelly was found guilty of all the nine charges against him including racketeering by a court in New York and will be sentenced on May 4.
The 54-year old was convicted of recruiting women, grooming them before brutally abusing them following a trial that lasted for 6 weeks.
His victims gave their testimonies alleging that the singer subjected them to the abuse when they were underage.
Several of Kelly’s accusers testified without using their real names to protect their privacy.
The lurid testimonies were meant to prove the acts that included accusations of rape, druggings, imprisonment and child pornography.
Listening to his verdict, the R. Kelly sat motionless, holding his head down and periodically closing his eyes.
To convict Kelly on the most serious charge of racketeering, jurors had to find him guilty of at least two of 14 “predicate acts” — the crimes elemental to the wider pattern of illegal wrongdoing.
The jury of five women and seven men found that all but two of the acts had been proven.
Kelly was also convicted on all eight charges of violating the Mann Act, an anti-sex trafficking law.
His lawyers were however not convinced with the ruling adding that they would be considering an appeal.
“We’re disappointed with the verdict,” Kelly’s attorney Deveraux Cannick told journalists outside the courtroom.
Kelly still faces prosecution in three other jurisdictions, including Illinois federal court. The disgraced Kelly was long trailed by abuse allegations, but evaded them for decades.
One of his greatest hits include ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ in the 1990’s.
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