CHICAGO — R&B singer R. Kelly woke up Sunday in Cook County jail, unable to come up with $100,000 — or 10 percent of his $1 million bond on charges related to sexual misconduct. Adding to his financial woes is more than $161,000 the Chicago native owes in back child support.
His attorney, Steve Greenberg, said Kelly may be able to shift funds but that the Grammy-winning artist “really doesn’t have any money.”
“This is someone who should be wealthy,” Greenberg said Saturday, noting that Kelly has lost money to mismanagement and bad contracts over the years. “I don’t even think he owns the rights to ‘I Believe I Can Fly.'”
Kelly was dropped from his record label and is also behind on rent.
On Saturday, Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. set a $1 million bond for Kelly. Lyke called the allegations against Kelly “disturbing” and said the amount equals $250,000 for each of the four people Kelly is charged with sexually abusing.
During Saturday’s 17-minute hearing, prosecutors laid out their case against Kelly, as he stood facing the judge with his arms cuffed behind his back. At times he shook his head in disagreement and once leaned over to whisper something to his lawyer, who patted Kelly on the shoulder. – READ MORE