R. Kelly is desperate to meet his prior obligations to perform in Dubai to help pay his mounting legal fees and child support bills. The troubled R&B singer is booked to perform 3 concert dates in Dubai, sources tell CBS 2 in Chicago.
Kelly, 52, was arrested last week and released after he paid his ex-wife $161,000 in back child support.
Family and friends are chipping in to help Kelly pay $21,000 a month in court-ordered child support to Drea Kelly for their three children.
Kelly also spent three nights in jail after he was indicted on Feb. 22 on 10 counts of aggravated sex abuse of three minors nearly 2 decades ago.
A friend paid $100,000 cash to post Kelly’s $1 million bond. The judge seized his passport and ordered him to remain in Chicago as a condition of his bond.
On Friday, Kelly’s attorney Steve Greenberg filed a motion asking a judge to allow the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer to travel for work in Dubai.
According to ABC13 in Chicago, Kelly’s motion will reference three concert dates from April 17 to 19 that were previously booked in Dubai.
Greenberg is expected to argue that the singer’s job requires him to travel, and that a recently denied performance permit in the U.S. proves he needs to be able to travel outside of the U.S. to earn a living.
Kelly is requesting to travel via private jet because he “needs to pay his day to day living expenses,” as well as the excessive costs of child support and other child-related expenses, and a money judgment against him for back rent on his Chicago studio, according to ABC13.
