R. Kelly has been charged with 11 additional counts of sexual abuse.
R. Kelly has been charged with 11 additional counts of sexual abuse.
According to court records obtained by ET, the 52-year-old singer was charged with 11 felony counts of sexual assault and sexual abuse related charges on Thursday. The charges filed by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office consist of five counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and two counts of criminal sexual assault. The alleged incidents occurred between January 1, 2010 and January 31, 2010.
The singer is due in court on June 6 to face the new charges.
Kelly's crisis manager, Darrell Johnson, tells ET in a statement, "These 'new' charges are not really new -- they are the same conduct, just charged differently, same alleged victim, same time frame, same facts. There are still four cases, not five. And we still expect the same results."
"Mr. Kelly is in good spirits. As he's always stated, he's innocent. He looks forward to a speedy trial and making it to court," Johnson exclusively told ET via satellite interview, adding that he doesn't anticipate Kelly serving any time. "He believes it's an effort to destroy his career."
"It's a travesty. It's horrible that these people are coming out with this foolishness. I'm not going to call anyone a liar, but what I will tell you is my client is innocent and we're going to stick by that. We're going to fight this thing all the way to the end, and I'm here with him. I believe in him, I trust what Mr. Kelly has told me," he added.
Kelly has denied all allegations against him. The singer has been accused of multiple sexual abuse allegations and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women over the years, but a renewed attention to the allegations came with the release of Lifetime's Surviving R. Kelly docuseries in January, in which more women came forward with allegations of abuse against Kelly.
Kelly was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were minors, in February, and pled not guilty. In an intense interview with Gayle King for CBS This Morning in March, Kelly spoke out on the allegations against him. The singer continuously claimed that everyone featured in Surviving R. Kelly is "lying" and maintained that he has "absolutely not" broken any laws.
"If you really look at that documentary… everybody says something bad about me. Nobody said nothing good," he said. "They was describing Lucifer. I'm not Lucifer. I'm a man. I make mistakes, but I'm not a devil, and by no means am I a monster."
"... People are going back to my past, OK? That's exactly what they're doing," he added. "They're going back to the past, and they're trying to add all of this stuff now to that. To make all of this stuff that's going on now feels real to people."
Meanwhile, earlier this month, the singer paid $62,000 in back child support amid an ongoing dispute with his ex-wife, Andrea "Drea" Kelly, Johnson told ET. Kelly was jailed in March for failing to pay more than $161,000 in overdue child support, and was released three days later after someone covered the debt on his behalf.
"After reviewing the case judgment brought several weeks ago against Mr. Kelly, [he] was vacated," Johnson said. "Mr. Kelly paid $62,000, bringing child support current to date. My client now looks forward to clearing his name and being cleared of all charges in the near future. Mr. Kelly also placed a check for child support in escrow for June, July and August in advance."
In March, one of Kelly's accusers, Lanita Carter, spoke out for the first time publicly in an interview with CBS News. Watch the video below for more:
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