R. Kelly's victim gets 'priority access' to singer's royalties to settle massive $4M lawsuit against him
SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS: R. Kelly's harassment victim will be the first to get the singer's royalties, the Illinois Supreme Court reportedly ruled, to help settle the hefty $4M lawsuit against him. In 2019, Heather Williams filed a civil lawsuit, claiming that when she was 16, the singer enticed her into his studio with the promise of a job in exchange for having sex with him.
Williams eventually prevailed in her legal battle with the singer and was granted $4M, which Kelly has not yet repaid. The court decided on March 23 that she would be permitted to access the royalties Kelly made from his music distributed at Sony Studios after evaluating the singer's assets.
RELATED NEWS
Did R Kelly release album ‘I Admit It’ from prison? Internet says 'bootleg or not, still disgusting'
R. Kelly's account estimated to be around $1.5M
Prior to the 'Honey Love' singer losing another $3.5M in a decision in favour of his property manager in a dispute over unpaid rent for a Chicago studio, the artiste's account was estimated to be worth about $1.5M in 2020, as per Radar Online.
On March 23, a lower court ordered that grant Williams be granted "priority access" to the royalties because she was the first to legitimately request the funds from the record company.
R. Kelly's uphill battle
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly's attorney, is attempting to have the $4M judgement overturned in its entirety, stating that Williams' name "never should have been entered" for the award. "I've never in my career seen such a flouting of the rules to deny him even the opportunity to defend these civil cases, even when the courts were fully aware that Kelly was incarcerated, unrepresented at points, and facing multiple criminal indictments," Bonjean said, adding, "Indeed, much of these civil proceedings occurred without Kelly's knowledge."
The ruling has already been upheld by an appeals court, and Bonjean herself acknowledges that it will be an "uphill battle" to have it reversed. Sony, Midwest Commercial Funding and Williams legal team all refused are yet to comment.
Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking and racketeering in New York in the summer of 2022 and was also told to pay more than $480,000 in fines and restitution. He was also fined an additional $42,000 after being found guilty of child pornography in Illinois in February. In an effort to start paying those fines, prosecutors seized nearly $30,000 from Kelly's prison account last autumn.