Judge sets R Kelly's bond at $1 million

R&B singer R. Kelly's bond was set at USD 1 million by a Chicago judge on Saturday (local time) after he was arrested and indicted on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four alleged victims.

The singer's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, welcomed the judge's decision, noting that it seems "fair and reasonable given the allegations," reports CNN.

"Right now he's presumed innocent. We haven't seen any reason to believe that these allegations are credible," the attorney said.

He had earlier claimed that the women, three of whom were minors when the alleged abuse took place, were lying.

"Mr Kelly is strong, he's got a lot of support and he's going to be vindicated on all these charges - one by one if it has to be," Greenberg had stated on Friday.

 

The Cook County judge has set a bond of USD 2,50,000 for each case. Furthermore, Kelly, who has often been referred to as the "King of R&B" by media outlets, needs to cough up USD 1,00,000 to make bail.

Lawyer Michael Avenatti had earlier disclosed that he had submitted a 42-minute VHS tape which showed Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old minor girl,to the State Attorney's Office in the run-up to Friday's indictment and subsequent arrest.

Allegations of sexual misconduct by Kelly towards young women date back to more than 20 years.

Kelly was charged with child pornography in 2000 after a video surfaced that alleged to show him having sex with an underage woman. However, he was cleared off all the charges in 2008 after that woman declined to testify against him.

In 1995, when Kelly was 27 years old, he briefly married the late singer Aaliyah, who was 15 years old at that time. In 'Surviving R. Kelly' (a documentary series in which accusers came forward with allegations of sexual, mental and physical abuse against the singer) an executive who formerly worked with Kelly says he forged Aaliyah's birth date on the marriage license to state that she was 18 and another witness said she saw Kelly and Aaliyah having sex.

Last year, reports of Kelly holding women captive in a "sex cult" were published. Multiple other reports have surfaced over the years.