(Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning singer R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago on federal sex crime charges, NBC News said, citing unidentified law enforcement officials.

R&B singer Kelly, 52, was arrested on Thursday by New York police detectives and investigators with the Department of Homeland Security, and is expected to be taken to New York City, the agency said.

Early on Friday, the Chicago Sun-Times said Kelly faces a 13-count sex crime indictment, citing the U.S. Attorney's office.

The R&B singer has vehemently denied abuse allegations for decades. In 2008, he was tried on child pornography charges and found not guilty.

The Sun-Times said Kelly's attorney Steve Greenberg, on Thursday confirmed the arrest, but declined to give details.

Greenberg was not immediately available for comment to Reuters.

Chicago police referred all questions on the matter to the U.S. attorney's office or New York police, but representatives were not immediately available for comment.

In June, Kelly pleaded not guilty to 11 felony counts of sexual assault and abuse at a Chicago court hearing after prosecutors expanded an indictment against him.

Those counts, unveiled in late May in an indictment by a Cook County grand jury, involve alleged abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16.

The accusations center on someone identified only as J.P. and the crimes are alleged to have taken place between May 2009 and January 2010.

Kelly could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted on those charges.

In February, Kelly pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted three teenage girls and a fourth woman.

The charges were brought after seven women, including his ex-wife, appeared on a Lifetime television documentary and accused him of emotional and sexual abuse.

The singer, known for such hits as "I Believe I Can Fly" and "Bump N' Grind," spent a weekend in jail on the sex charges before being released on $100,000 bail on Feb. 25.

It was not immediately clear if the new federal charges against Kelly were related to previous cases. It was unclear where he was being held or when he would appear before a judge on the new charges. </s> (Reuters) – Grammy Award-winning singer R. Kelly, who already faces state sexual assault charges, has been arrested in Chicago on federal charges after having been indicted there and in Brooklyn, New York, a law enforcement source said on Friday.

The source, who requested anonymity because the indictments were still under seal, declined to characterize the nature of the charges. NBC News, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, said they were for alleged sex crimes.

Kelly, 52, an R&B singer, was arrested on Thursday by New York police detectives and investigators with the Department of Homeland Security, and is expected to appear before a judge in Chicago later on Friday, the law enforcement source said.

“He’s expected to be arraigned today in federal court in Chicago and at later date in Brooklyn,” the source said.

Kelly faces a 13-count federal indictment in Chicago and five counts in Brooklyn, the source said, adding that both indictments remain under seal.

Last month, the singer pleaded not guilty to 11 new felony counts of sexual assault and abuse at a Cook County, Illinois, court hearing, after state prosecutors expanded an indictment against him.

The R&B singer has vehemently denied abuse allegations for decades. In 2008, he was tried on child pornography charges and found not guilty.

The Chicago Sun-Times said Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg, on Thursday confirmed the arrest, but declined to give details. Greenberg was not immediately available for comment to Reuters.

The Cook County charges involve alleged abuse of a victim between the ages of 13 and 16. The accusations center on someone identified only as J.P. and the crimes are alleged to have taken place between May 2009 and January 2010.

Kelly could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted on those charges.

In February, Kelly pleaded not guilty to charges that he sexually assaulted three teenage girls and a fourth woman.

The charges were brought after seven women, including his ex-wife, appeared on a Lifetime television documentary and accused him of emotional and sexual abuse.

The singer, known for such hits as “I Believe I Can Fly” and “Bump N’ Grind,” spent a weekend in jail on the sex charges before being released on $100,000 bail on Feb. 25. </s> CHICAGO (Reuters) - R&B singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a raft of federal charges accusing him of running a scheme to force women and girls to provide sex for himself and others, and a judge ordered that he remain in jail without bail.

A federal judge said the main reason he was denying bail was obstruction of justice charges, part of a multi-count indictment unveiled on Friday in Chicago and New York.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffed at a hearing in federal court, the 52-year-old singer entered his plea of not guilty and answered “Yes, sir,” to all of U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber’s questions. He made no eye contact with supporters in the Chicago courtroom.

“Kelly is an extreme danger to the community, especially teenage girls,” federal prosecutor Angel Kroll argued.

Prosecutors brought 18 counts against the Grammy Award-winning artist with allegations he preyed on teenagers and young women for two decades, forcing them into sexual acts.

Under the obstruction of justice charges, R. Kelly and his entourage are accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to buy victims’ silence, even giving a car to one young woman, and using intimidation and threats of violence.

The singer, who rose to fame in the 1990s, has been jailed in solitary confinement since he was arrested on Thursday night walking his dog in downtown Chicago, his lawyer Steve Greenberg said.

R. Kelly has faced sexual abuse allegations dating back to the 1990s, which were documented in a television series “Surviving R. Kelly” and aired in January.

In February he was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Illinois state.

Greenberg said R. Kelly was not a flight risk as he spent all his time in his one bedroom apartment on the 48th floor of the Trump Tower in Chicago and had no money.

“If he was going to flee he would have done so already,” Greenberg said. He later said that he would appeal the judge’s bail decision.

Two women who say they have been in consensual relationships with the singer were at the hearing, but did not speak in court or comment to reporters.

The women, Joycelyn Savage and Azriel Clary, expressed their support for R. Kelly in a video posted this week on entertainment news site TMZ.

Best known for hits “Bump n’ Grind,” and “I Believe I Can Fly,” R. Kelly faces a maximum prison sentence of over 190 years for the Chicago charges and decades more for those filed in New York. He is already fighting sexual assault charges in Illinois that carry a prison sentence of up to 30 years.

The musician and record producer is charged with sexual misconduct with 12 teenage girls and young women. Prosecutors said they had evidence in three videotapes of women performing sexual acts with Kelly.

Celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti, who says he represents three of Kelly’s victims, on Monday said the singer paid over $2 million to keep one young woman off the stand in his 2008 trial on child pornography charges, in which he was acquitted.

“The difference between his old cases and now is that his victims are cooperating with law enforcement,” said prosecutor Kroll. </s> R. Kelly has pled not guilty to 13 alleged sex trafficking charges. The 'Ignition' hitmaker was arrested on the charges - which also included charges for alleged child pornography and obstruction of justice - earlier this month, after he was already arrested on two separate occasions for 11 felonies related to sexual assault and abuse, and a further 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, all of which he has denied.

And after a court hearing on Tuesday, July 16, the disgraced RnB star entered a plea of not guilty to the latest charges.

But despite his not guilty plea, TMZ reports he will stay behind bars for the time being, after a judge denied his bond and sided with his prosecutors, who argued he shouldn't be allowed on the streets.

Prosecutors claimed the risk of obstruction is still ongoing, and alleged Kelly is a danger to the community, especially young girls.

They said: "[Kelly has the] unique ability to influence and intimidate witnesses and victims, and that continues to this day. It's who the defendant is."

Kelly's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, then argued Kelly is no longer a risk to minors as all but one of the allegations against him date back to the 90s, and insisted his client isn't a flight risk as he's already surrendered his passport to the authorities and doesn't like to fly.

Greenberg also noted the 52-year-old musician would make a "difficult prisoner" because of his notoriety, but the judge eventually sided with the prosecution, saying that the allegation of child pornography alone comes with a "presumption of detention".

Kelly has been ordered to stay in jail without bond.

The news comes just one month after the musician was last in court to plead not guilty to 11 felonies related to sexual assault and abuse in Illinois, including five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual assault.

In those legal documents, Kelly was accused of committing an act of sexual penetration on a victim known as "J.P." in an incident which allegedly took place in January 2010, when the victim was under the age of 18.

Kelly was also previously faced with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse when four women accused him of sexually abusing them, three of whom claim they were underage at the time of the alleged incidents.

The musician has denied all allegations against him. </s> FILE – In this June 6, 2019 file photo, musician R. Kelly departs the Leighton Criminal Court building after pleading not guilty to 11 additional sex-related charges in Chicago. A U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman says Kelly was arrested Thursday night, July 11 on federal sex-crime charges in Chicago. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)

prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago Thursday on a federal grand jury indictment listing 13 counts including sex crimes and obstruction of justice.

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was taken into custody about 7 p.m. local time and was being held by federal authorities. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Kelly is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, Chicago.

He was arrested after the indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

“The counts include child porn, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice,” Fitzpatrick said, adding that further details would be released Friday.

The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The 52-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois involving four women, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse occurred. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.

Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sex-related counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.

His attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment on the federal charges. Fitzpatrick said Kelly’s arraignment date and time had not yet been set.

Kelly has faced mounting legal troubles this year after Lifetime aired a documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which revisited allegations of sexual abuse of girls. The series followed the BBC’s “R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes,” released in 2018, that alleged the singer was holding women against their will and running a “sex cult.”

Soon after the release of the Lifetime documentary, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office had been inundated with calls about the allegations in the documentary. Her office’s investigation led to the charges in February and additional counts added in May.

Kelly avoided prison after similar allegations were made more than a decade ago. A jury in 2008 acquitted him of child pornography charges that stemmed from a videotape, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, allegedly showing Kelly having sex with a minor.

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Watch live newscasts, get breaking news and sign up for push alerts – download now </s> FILE – In this June 6, 2019 file photo, musician R. Kelly departs the Leighton Criminal Court building after pleading not guilty to 11 additional sex-related charges in Chicago. A U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman says Kelly was arrested Thursday night, July 11 on federal sex-crime charges in Chicago. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)

CHICAGO (AP) — Singer R. Kelly, already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors, was arrested in Chicago on a sweeping federal indictment that accuses him and members of his entourage of recruiting women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with the performer.

The indictment unsealed Friday in the Eastern District of New York includes charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and the sexual exploitation of a child.

It says Kelly and his managers, bodyguards and other assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. They also set rules the women and girls had to follow, including not leaving their rooms — even to eat or go to the bathroom — without Kelly’s permission, calling the singer “Daddy,” and not looking at other men, the indictment alleges.

U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick said the R&B singer was out walking his dog when he was taken into custody about 7 p.m. Thursday and was being held by federal authorities. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website, Kelly is being held at the high-rise Metropolitan Correctional Center, in downtown Chicago.

He was arrested after the indictment was handed down earlier Thursday in federal court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, said Friday that federal agents arrested Kelly on charges out of Illinois and New York. The singer hopes to be released after a bail hearing early next week, Greenberg said.

The conduct Kelly is charged with in federal court “appears to largely be the same” as what he is charged with in state court, Greenberg said, adding that Kelly “was aware of the investigations and the charges were not a surprise.”

The arrest was the second time this year that Kelly has been taken into custody in Chicago on sex charges. The 52-year-old Grammy winner, whose real name is Robert Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois involving four women, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse occurred. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.

Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sex-related counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.Full Coverage: R. Kelly

Darrell Johnson, a publicist for Kelly, said he planned to deliver a statement about the latest developments at a Friday morning news conference in Atlanta. He declined to comment ahead of that time.

Kelly’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment on the federal charges. Fitzpatrick said Kelly’s arraignment date and time had not yet been set.

Kelly has faced mounting legal troubles this year after Lifetime aired a documentary “Surviving R. Kelly,” which revisited allegations of sexual abuse of girls. The series followed the BBC’s “R Kelly: Sex, Girls & Videotapes,” released in 2018, that alleged the singer was holding women against their will and running a “sex cult.”

Soon after the release of the Lifetime documentary, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said her office had been inundated with calls about the allegations in the documentary. Her office’s investigation led to the charges in February and additional counts added in May.

Kelly avoided prison after similar allegations were made more than a decade ago. A jury in 2008 acquitted him of child pornography charges that stemmed from a videotape, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, allegedly showing Kelly having sex with a minor. </s> FILE – In this June 6, 2019 file photo, musician R. Kelly departs the Leighton Criminal Court building after pleading not guilty to 11 additional sex-related charges in Chicago. A U.S. Attorney’s office spokesman says Kelly was arrested Thursday night, July 11 on federal sex-crime charges in Chicago. (AP Photo/Amr Alfiky, File)

CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly and his entourage recruited girls and women to engage in illegal sexual activity with the singer and covered up the crimes by paying off and threatening victims and witnesses, federal prosecutors alleged Friday in indictments that could keep the Grammy winner behind bars for decades.

Because they come from the federal government, the accusations add a new dimension to the allegations against Kelly, who was already facing sexual abuse charges brought by Illinois prosecutors earlier this year.

One federal indictment in Chicago said Kelly arranged for a girl and her parents to travel overseas to prevent them from talking with police prior to his 2002 indictment on 21 counts of child pornography. The R&B artist allegedly later instructed them to lie to a grand jury about the case. Kelly was acquitted in 2008 of the charges, which accused him of recording a video of sex acts with the girl, who was 12 or 13 when they met in the mid-1990s.

A separate indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York included charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and the sexual exploitation of a child.

It said Kelly and his managers, bodyguards and other assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and other venues and arranged for them to travel to see Kelly. They also set rules the women and girls had to follow, including not leaving their rooms — even to eat or go to the bathroom — without Kelly’s permission, calling the singer “Daddy” and not looking at other men, the indictment alleges.

The allegations have swirled for years around Kelly, whom federal prosecutors said Friday was “emboldened by his fame and the lack of any real consequences.” The charges come after two documentaries and a series of news articles about the accusations, as well as pleas from prosecutors who have urged new victims and witnesses came forward.

Kelly was arrested Thursday evening while walking his dog “Believe” in Chicago. He appeared in court Friday, standing before the judge in an orange jumpsuit, with his hands clasped behind his back. The only words he spoke during the 15-minute hearing were “yes, ma’am.”

He will remain in federal custody at least until Tuesday, when he’s scheduled for a detention hearing. Prosecutors want him held without bail.

His attorney, Steve Greenberg, said the latest charges were “not a surprise” and that Kelly should be allowed to post bail.

“It’s the worst kept secret he was going to get charged federally, and he hasn’t fled,” he said following Friday’s hearing.

He also accused the federal government of “piling on” with the new charges and described his client as unflappable despite a series of indictments in recent months.

“I’m amazed he hasn’t had a complete breakdown in the face of all of this pressure,” he said. He questioned if the victims referenced in the indictments were actually victims.

“They’ve charged him in New York with enticing people and encouraging people to have sex with him,” Greenberg said. “I don’t think people accidentally have sex so I’m not really sure what the criminal activity is there.”

The New York indictment alleges that the criminal acts occurred over two decades dating back to 1999, both in the U.S. and overseas. It accuses Kelly of engaging in sexual acts with girls under 18, of having sex with a woman without disclosing that he had a sexually transmitted disease and of producing child pornography.

The Chicago indictment charges Kelly with child sex crimes, including producing child pornography, and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. It also names Kelly’s business manager, Derrel McDavid, and another employee.

It says Kelly recorded himself engaged in sex acts with several minor girls and went to great lengths to recover the videos when he realized some were missing from his “collection.” Kelly allegedly made some victims and witnesses take lie-detector tests to ensure they had returned all copies of the videos.

Kelly’s acquittal in his previous child pornography trial came after he and the girl who prosecutors said was in the video denied they were in the footage, even though the picture quality was good and witnesses testified it was them. She did not take the stand.

The indictment says Kelly continued to make payments to the girl after the trial, and that Kelly also transferred the title on a luxury SUV to the girl in 2013.

Darrell Johnson, a publicist for Kelly, delivered a statement at a chaotic news conference Friday in Atlanta, where he was interrupted seconds after beginning by the family of a woman who lived with Kelly in Chicago. The relatives of Joycelyn Savage pleaded to speak with their daughter.

“I want to know where my daughter is,” Timothy Savage, Joycelyn Savage’s father, angrily interrupted Johnson. “Where is she at? Answer that question!”

Johnson said he had “nothing to do” with Joycelyn Savage and that she was not being held. In an interview with “CBS This Morning” co-host Gayle King in March, Joycelyn Savage defended her relationship with Kelly and denied reports she was being held against her will.

Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was arrested in February on 10 counts in Illinois of sexually abusing three girls and a woman. He pleaded not guilty to those charges and was released on bail.

Then on May 30, Cook County prosecutors added 11 more sex-related counts involving one of the women who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was underage.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents three of the victims identified as “Jane Does” in the New York indictment, predicted that long-overdue justice “will soon be done.”

“This is a very positive day for those who allege that they are victims of Mr. Kelly, and it is a day that I’m sure that Mr. Kelly hoped would never come,” she said.

Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz in Chicago and Ben Nadler in Atlanta contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that defense attorney Steve Greenberg, not U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman Joseph Fitzpatrick, said Kelly was arrested Thursday while walking his dog. </s> R&B singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a raft of federal charges accusing him of running a scheme to force women and girls to provide sex for himself and others, and a judge ordered that he remain in jail without bail.

A federal judge said the main reason he was denying bail was obstruction of justice charges, part of a multi-count indictment unveiled on Friday in Chicago and New York.

Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffed at a hearing in federal court, the 52-year-old singer entered his plea of not guilty and answered "Yes, sir," to all of US District Judge Harry Leinenweber's questions. He made no eye contact with supporters in the Chicago courtroom.

"Kelly is an extreme danger to the community, especially teenage girls," federal prosecutor Angel Kroll argued.

Prosecutors brought 18 counts against the Grammy Award-winning artist with allegations he preyed on teenagers and young women for two decades, forcing them into sexual acts.

Under the obstruction of justice charges, R. Kelly and his entourage are accused of paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to buy victims' silence, even giving a car to one young woman, and using intimidation and threats of violence. </s> A Minnesota prosecutor charged singer R. Kelly on Monday with prostitution and solicitation related to an allegation that he invited a 17-year-old girl to his hotel room in 2001 and paid her $200 to dance naked with him.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is accused of soliciting the girl after meeting her before a concert in Minneapolis.

READ MORE: R. Kelly denied bail after pleading not guilty to sexual abuse charges

Freeman said the girl was trying to get an autograph from Kelly, and that the R&B performer gave her his signature and a phone number. When the girl called the number, she was invited to Kelly’s hotel. There she was offered $200 to take off her clothes and dance, Freeman said. He said Kelly took his clothes off and they danced together.

A criminal complaint said the girl said Kelly lay on his bed and the girl climbed on top of him “body to body.”

“According to Victim, the defendant was rubbing her body” and fondling himself, according to the complaint. “Victim stated that the defendant touched all over her body.”

The complaint said the girl attended Kelly’s concert “as a guest who did not have to pay,” and told her brother what had happened in Kelly’s hotel room.

The charges are felonies, each punishable by up to five years in prison. Freeman said his office investigated after getting a tip from a Chicago tip line.

“We felt we had more than enough to charge based on her testimony and corroboration from her brother,” Freeman said. “I don’t like buying sex from minors, and I don’t think most other people do either.”

WATCH: R. Kelly pleads not guilty to New York sex trafficking charges: Attorney

Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg tweeted: “Give me a break. This is beyond absurd.” He did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.

The criminal complaint didn’t name the accuser, and her attorney, Gloria Allred, said it would not be disclosed. She called the woman “a child victim of Mr. Kelly” and said she showed courage to come forward.

“As this new case demonstrates, it is not too late for there to be justice for even more victims of R. Kelly,” Allred said in a statement.

READ MORE: R. Kelly arrested in Chicago on federal sex trafficking charges

The charges are the latest legal problem for Kelly, who remains jailed in New York after pleading not guilty last week in federal court to charges that he sexually abused women and girls who attended his concerts there. He is accused of using his fame to recruit young women and girls into illegal sexual activity.

Kelly, 52, is also charged separately in Chicago with engaging in child pornography.
American musician R. Kelly pleads not guilty to federal sex-assault charges but is denied bail.