R. Kelly’s $520K in Universal Music royalties must go to sex abuse victims
More than half a million dollars in R. Kelly’s music royalties held by the Universal Music Group must be turned over to his sex abuse victims, a New York judge ruled.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly signed an order Wednesday ordering UMG, the disgraced R&B singer’s music publisher, to hand over $520,549 to cover unpaid restitution and fines.
Kelly, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June 2022 for sexually abusing women and underage girls and boys over the course of decades.
UMG has 10 days to deliver the money to pay the debt, according to the court documents.
Following UMG’s agreement to hand over the cash to victims, prosecutors said they would drop their move to go after Sony’s royalties of more than $1.5 million.
The Sony cash, however, is currently being sought by the abuse victim in Kelly’s Chicago child pornography conviction, who was awarded $4 million.
The “Ignition” singer, 56, still owes more than $42,000 in fines and restitution in that case, Billboard reports.
Jennifer Bonjean, Kelly’s attorney, said in a statement that she will seek to have the payments returned to her client as she is currently appealing both his convictions.
Representatives for UMG and Sony did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
The move to go after Kelly’s royalties came after Donnelly ordered the fallen 90s R&B icon to surrender nearly $28,000 in his prison inmate account to pay his victims.
Donnelly had rejected the defense’s claim that prosecutors had taken “unprecedented” steps in freezing all but $500 in Kelly’s account.
In addition to his sentencing in New York on federal racketeering and sex trafficking convictions, Kelly was sentenced in February to 20 years in prison in a separate Chicago case — but with nearly all the time having to be served simultaneously with the 30-year sentence.
In April, Kelly was moved from a Chicago correctional center to the Butner Federal Correctional Complex, a medium-security prison known for housing high-profile inmates in North Carolina.
