R. Kelly is still locked up in a Chicago jail after he was unable to come up with 10% of his $1 million bail ($100,000). Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, says his client’s finances are “a mess.”
Kelly, 52, turned himself in to police on Friday night, Feb. 22, after he was hit with 10 charges of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of four females. At least 3 of the alleged victims are minors.
The new charges come more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted of 13 counts of child porn related to a video that shows the singer allegedly engaging in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl.
At a Saturday bond hearing, a judge set bond for Kelly at $1 million – $250,000 for each of the alleged 4 female victims.
Greenberg told reporters the troubled R&B star was having financial difficulties.
At the bond hearing, Greenberg asked the judge to set a reasonable bond for Kelly because his “finances are a mess” due to the fallout after Lifetime TV aired a documentary detailing allegations of sex abuse against the singer in January.
“This is someone who should be wealthy at this stage of his career,” Greenberg told reporters after the bond hearing on Saturday.
“And through mismanagement, through hangers-on, and bad contracts, and bad deals, and bad leases like he had in his studio. He really doesn’t have any money at this point. I don’t even think he owns the rights to ‘I Believe I Can Fly.'”
Greenberg also noted Kelly owes his ex-wife, Drea Kelly, nearly $200,000 in back child support for his four children. A judge ordered the singer to come up with the cash by next month or face jail time.
But Greenberg is confident Kelly can come up with the $100,000 “in a few days.”
READ ALSO: R. Kelly’s Record Label Drops Him Amid Sex Scandal
Adding to Kelly’s financial woes, he was forced to cancel an upcoming European tour after severe backlash on social media. At least one of the venues threatened to cancel the concert.
Kelly and his record label, Sony Records, parted ways in the aftermath of the scandalous documentary in January.
Kelly’s partnership with Sony dates back to 2010. The record label dropped the crooner after new evidence came to light that proves he knew the late singer Aaliyah was underaged when he married her in 1994.
Aaliyah, who is best known for her hit song “Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number”, was only 15 when she married Kelly, who was 27 at the time. The marriage was annulled 2 years later.
Social media users expressed gratitude to the judge for setting a high bond that keeps the “Anything Goes” singer behind bars.
“Beautiful morning for R Kelly to still be in jail,” one social media user tweeted on Sunday.
Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for BET
