R. Kelly faces a new charge involving his 1994 illegal marriage to Aaliyah. According to the superseding indictment filed in a Brooklyn federal court on Thursday (Dec. 5), Kelly is accused of bribing an official to obtain a fake ID to marry the then underage singer.
Aaliyah is referred to as “Jane Doe #1” in the indictment. The documents state that “on or around August 30, 1994,” Kelly “knowingly” bribed a public official to get a “fraudulent identification document” stating that Aaliyah was 18.
The next day, 27-year-old Kelly married, 15-year-old Aliyah in a secret ceremony. The marriage was annulled shortly after Aaliyah’s parents found out about it.
Kelly’s lawyer, Steven Greenberg, told the Chicago Tribune that the indictment didn’t immediately appear to “materially alter the landscape.” Greenberg noted that he was still “reviewing” the documents.
Douglas Anton, another Kelly attorney, called the charge “ridiculous and absurd.”
Kelly already faces federal racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual exploitation charges in New York. The indictment also accuses him of headlining an “Enterprise” that recruited “women and girls to engage in illegal activity” with him. The R&B singer and “other members of the Enterprise” traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad to secretly recruit and groom the victims, the document states.
Kelly, 52, remains locked up in Illinois on federal charges in a separate 13 count indictment.