R. Kelly accused of paying off family at centre of his 2008 trial

New York: R. Kelly knew he had a problem.

He was under investigation for making a videotape that purported to show him having sex with and urinating on a teenage girl.

So, according to a federal grand jury indictment unsealed on Friday in Chicago, he and his associates tried to take care of it.

They gave the girl and her family gifts and money over more than a dozen years, the indictment alleges. There were payments of thousands of dollars. A GMC Yukon Denali 4WD was given to the girl. A trip abroad to make them unavailable to law enforcement. And instructions that they lie to investigators to protect him.

These allegations are part of a raft of new federal charges brought against Kelly this week, shifting what had been a local case in Chicago to a multi-state federal prosecution.

R. Kelly stands during a hearing in his sex abuse case at Leighton Criminal Court Building in May.Credit: AP

Kelly, whose real name is Robert S Kelly, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Chicago on 13 counts, among them conspiracy to obstruct justice and producing child pornography, including four videos that included the girl whose family he is accused of paying. He was also accused of crimes against four other minors, including aggravated criminal abuse and sexual exploitation of a child.

In addition, a grand jury in New York City indicted Kelly on five counts, including racketeering and violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits transporting people across state lines to engage in illegal sexual activity. Those activities included exploitation of a child, forced labour and kidnapping, according to the indictment. There were five victims in that indictment, three of whom were minors at the time.

Kelly, 52, was arrested on Thursday night, local time, while walking his dog by a team of federal officers from Homeland Security Investigations from New York and Chicago as well as the New York City Police Department.

The singer is already facing charges, in state court in Chicago, of sexually assaulting four women, three of whom were minors at the time.

Kelly's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, posted a statement on Twitter on Friday morning that said most of the conduct for which Kelly was arrested on Thursday was decades old and covered the same activities that Kelly has been charged with in state court, or had already been acquitted of in 2008.

Greenberg said a bail hearing would be held next week and that Kelly would remain in custody until then.

The New York Times