R. Kelly is facing a new bribery charge allegedly related to the disgraced singer’s 1994 marriage to fellow R&B singer Aaliyah.
The new charge accused R. Kelly of scheming with others to pay for a “fraudulent identification document” for someone identified only as “Jane Doe” on Aug. 30, 1994, according to a superseding indictment unsealed on Thursday and obtained by Fox News.
A day later, Kelly, then 27, married Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, in a secret ceremony arranged by Kelly at a hotel in Chicago. The marriage was annulled months later because of her age.
The indictment did not mention the wedding. However, a person familiar with the investigation confirmed to Fox News that “Jane Doe” was Aaliyah and that the fake ID listing her age as 18 was to be used to obtain a marriage license.
The indictment didn’t identify the person who was paid the bribe in order to get the fake ID, except to say that the person was a public employee.
Prosecutors on Thursday also submitted an index of evidence produced, which shows that the document in question was a birth certificate.
Kelly’s attorney, Douglas Anton, told The Associated Press the latest charge against his client was “ridiculous and absurd.”
The Brooklyn prosecutors already had charged the 52-year-old singer — whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly — with racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual exploitation. They alleged he and his employees and assistants picked out women and girls at concerts and groomed them for sexual abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
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