R. Kelly has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for using his R&B superstardom to subject young fans to systematic sexual abuse.

The singer and songwriter was convicted of racketeering and sex trafficking last year at a trial that gave voice to accusers who had once wondered if their stories were ignored because they were Black women. U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly imposed the sentence at a courthouse in Brooklyn.

The sentence caps a slow-motion fall for Kelly, who is 55. He remained adored by legions of fans even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s.

“You made me do things that broke my spirit. I literally wished I would die because of how low you made me feel,” said one unnamed survivor, directly addressing a Kelly who kept his hands folded and his eyes downcast. “Do you remember that?”

Kelly’s lawyers had argued he should get no more than 10 years in prison because he had a traumatic childhood “involving severe, prolonged childhood sexual abuse, poverty, and violence,” the Associated Press reported.

The hit maker is known for work including the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and the cult classic “Trapped in the Closet,” a multi-part tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.

CHICAGO —

R. Kelly is set to learn whether he will spend the rest of his life in prison when a federal judge sentences him Thursday on convictions for child pornography and enticement of minors for sex.

Prosecutors have asked the judge overseeing the sentencing hearing in Kelly's hometown of Chicago to order him to serve a 25-year sentence only after he completes a 30-year term imposed last year in New York for racketeering and sex trafficking.

That would make the 56-year-old Grammy Award winner eligible for release in 2066, a year shy of his 100th birthday. The defense wants a sentence of around 10 years, served concurrently.

If the judge does let Kelly serve his new sentence simultaneously with the New York sentence, he will serve no more than the 30 years and should be eligible for release at around age 80 — providing him some hope of one day resuming life outside prison.

Prosecutors say Kelly's crimes against children and his lack of remorse justify the stiffer sentence.

A calm Kelly spoke briefly at the start of the hearing, when the judge asked him if he had reviewed key presentencing documents for any inaccuracies.

“Your honor, I have gone over it with my attorney,” Kelly said. "I’m just relying on my attorney for that.”

Jurors in Chicago convicted Kelly last year on six of 13 counts: three counts of producing child porn and three of enticement of minors for sex. Kelly was acquitted of the marqueecount.

Kelly rose from poverty in Chicago to become one of the world’s biggest R&B stars. Known for his smash hit “I Believe I Can Fly” and for sex-infused songs such as “Bump n’ Grind,” he sold millions of albums even after allegations about his abuse of girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s.

In presentencing filings, prosecutors described Kelly as “a serial sexual predator” who used his fame and wealth to reel in, sexually abuse and then discard star-struck fans.

Kelly’s lawyer, Jennifer Bonjean, accused prosecutors of offering an “embellished narrative” in an attempt to get the judge to join what she called the government’s “blood-thirsty campaign to make Kelly a symbol of the #MeToo movement.”

Bonjean said Kelly has suffered enough, including financially. She said his worth once approached $1 billion, but that he “is now destitute.”

NEW YORK, N.Y. — R. Kelly has been convicted on all counts in a sex trafficking trial held in Brooklyn.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced the verdict on Twitter.

A federal jury found the disgraced singer guilty on one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating of an anti-sex trafficking law called the Mann Act. He now faces the possibility of decades in prison after he's sentenced on May 4, 2022, The New York Times and NBC News report.

The 54-year-old singer of the hit “I Believe I Can Fly” was charged in July of 2019 with racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children, kidnapping, forced labor and Mann Act violations involving the coercion and transportation of women and girls in interstate commerce to engage in illegal sexual activity.

Kelly was also charged with four counts of violating the Mann Act related to his interstate transportation of a victim to New York to engage in illegal sexual activity, and his exposure of her to an infectious venereal disease without her knowledge.

Court documents allege Kelly and individuals who served as his managers, bodyguards, drivers, personal assistants, runners, and his entourage comprised a racketeering enterprise that operated for over two decades in New York, Illinois, Connecticut, California, and elsewhere.

Kelly allegedly used his fame to recruit women and girls to engage in illegal sexual activity with him and others.

Kelly is accused of identifying girls and women before directing members of the “enterprise” to escort them backstage or to events following his musical performances, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.

“Kelly also exchanged contact information with girls and women so that he and other members of the enterprise could arrange travel and lodging for them to visit Kelly and engage in the charged illegal sexual conduct,” the office wrote in a press release in 2019.

Kelly allegedly issued rules that many of his sexual partners were required to follow, including that the women and girls were to call him “Daddy.” They were reportedly not allowed to leave their rooms to eat or visit the bathroom without receiving his permission. Officials say the women and girls were also required to wear baggy clothing when not accompanying Kelly to an event, and they were directed to keep their heads down and not look at other men.

“Kelly also isolated the women and girls from their friends and family, and made them dependent on him for their financial well-being,” wrote the office.

Prosecutors inched closer on Friday to concluding their case at the R. Kelly sex-trafficking trial, calling two final witnesses to try to further cement allegations he groomed young victims for unwanted sex in episodes dating to the 1990s.

One witness was a former assistant for the R&B singer who echoed testimony of other ex-employees describing his mercurial behavior and the control he exerted on everyone around him.

The other was an expert witness on abusive relationships who is to return to the witness stand for cross-examination on Monday before the government rests.

The expert, psychologist Dawn Hughes, testified about studies showing that many abusers systematically isolate, demean, subjugate and spy on their victims as means of control — all tactics allegedly used by Kelly. Generally speaking, it isn't unusual for powerful people like Kelly to be surrounded by underlings who "knew about it and didn't do anything,” Hughes said.

Prosecutors played recordings for the jury Wednesday they say back up allegations the R&B singer abused women and girls.

In court papers, prosecutors have described tapes of a profane Kelly threatening violence against victims during recorded rants in 2008.

Jurors listened to the recording using headphones. There was no audio for the press and public — already restricted by the judge to an overflow courtroom as a coronavirus precaution — making it impossible to know exactly what the panel was seeing or hearing, or how it was reacting to it.

A video feed to the overflow courtroom showed Kelly not wearing the headphones that would have allowed him to listen.

The defense was expected to begin putting on its case later Monday, with closing arguments possible before the end of the week at a New York City trial that began on Aug. 18.

The 54-year-old defendant, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering charges accusing him of running a Chicago-based enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who helped him recruit and transport his victims. That alleged travel violated the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to transport anyone across state lines for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

The Grammy-winning artist has vehemently denied the charges, claiming that the women were groupies who wanted to take advantage of his fame and fortune until the #MeToo movement turned them against him.

NEW YORK —

Editor's note: Some of the details in this story may be disturbing to some.

A former tour manager for R. Kelly reluctantly testified Friday that he paid a $500 bribe to a government worker to get the singer Aaliyah a fake identification card so Kelly could secretly marry her when she was 15 years old.

Demetrius Smith told a jury at Kelly’s sex-trafficking trial that after he went into a Chicago-area welfare office in 1994, he brazenly approached an employee who was taking ID photos.

"Hey, want to make some money?" he said he asked the employee before handing over the cash. He was confident the bribe would work because "everybody needs some money," he added.

The welfare card was one of two fake IDs used to clear the way for the R&B legend to marry Aaliyah after he began a sexual relationship with her and believed she had become pregnant. A marriage license that was put into evidence falsely listed her age as 18; Kelly was 27 at the time.

Prosecutors say Kelly wanted to use the marriage, which was later annulled, to shield himself from criminal charges related to having sex with a minor and to prevent her from testifying against him.

Aaliyah, whose full name was Aaliyah Dana Haughton, worked with Kelly, who wrote and produced her 1994 debut album, "Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number." She died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.

Kelly, now 54, is charged in the bribery scheme as part of a racketeering case accusing him of sexually abusing several women, girls and boys during the course of his 30-year singing career. He’s vehemently denied the charges, claiming that the women were groupies who wanted to take advantage of his fame and fortune achieved through hits like "I Believe Can Fly."

Forced to testify against his will after being given immunity from future charges, Smith repeatedly told the judge he was uneasy about taking the stand, though he did not give a specific reason. But with prodding from the judge, he detailed how the singer came to him while he was on a 1994 tour and told him, "Aaliyah is in trouble. We need to get home."

They rushed back to Chicago after a concert in another city so they could arrange the marriage meant "to protect him and Aaliyah," Smith said. He said he told Kelly, "'I know how to get her an ID,' and that’s what I did."

Earlier Friday, another former Kelly employee, Anthony Navarro, was called by the government to describe the inner workings of the Chicago-area mansion where Kelly had a recording studio and a constant stream of female visitors.

Being at the mansion "was almost like the 'Twilight Zone,'" Navarro said. "It’s just a strange place."

Navarro's testimony bolstered the government's contention that Kelly controlled everything around him and created an environment where girls and women who entered the space faced strict rules that gave them little choice but to submit to the singer's sexual whims.

Navarro told jurors that he never witnessed Kelly sexually abuse his victims. But there were "girls" who would stay at his home for long stretches and couldn’t eat or depart without Kelly’s permission, he said

"There’s been times where they wanted to (leave) but couldn’t because they couldn’t get a ride or we couldn’t get ahold of Rob" to get approval, he said.

Navarro, who was trained as an audio engineer, spent much of his time doing menial chores for Kelly like driving visitors to and from his home.

"Mainly it was girls who were coming to the studio," he said.

NEW YORK, N.Y. — A prosecutor has introduced a jury to the sex abuse claims against R&B star R. Kelly, saying the criminal trial is “about a predator" who used his fame to manipulate children and women.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez delivered the opening remarks Wednesday at the long-anticipated federal trial arising from years of allegations that Kelly sexually abused women and girls.

It came more than a decade after Kelly was acquitted in a 2008 child pornography case in Chicago. That acquittal was a reprieve that allowed his music career to continue until the #MeToo era caught up with him, emboldening alleged victims to come forward.

In the New York City sex trafficking trial, the singer is facing an anonymous jury made up of seven men and five women. The panel was sworn last week after dozens of potential jurors were screened by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in federal court in Brooklyn.

The judge in the case sought assurances from prospective jurors that they could remain impartial given all the bad publicity swirling around Kelly since his 2019 arrest.

The trial comes two years after Kelly was charged with abusing women and girls for nearly two decades. He's charged with leading what prosecutors call a criminal enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who allegedly helped him recruit women and girls for sex.

The 54-year-old defendant denies the charges against him. Defense lawyers have said Kelly’s alleged victims were groupies who only started accusing him of abuse years later when public sentiment shifted in the #MeToo era.

The trial is not being televised. The New York Times reports that the press and public will watch the proceedings from two overflow rooms in the courthouse.

Kelly came to prominence in the late '80s and early '90s. He has had a number of hit songs, but most people know him for “I Believe I Can Fly,” the 1996 sing-along that became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings and advertisements.