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R. Kelly

Source: E. JASON WAMBSGANS / Getty

Federal prosecutors want to seize the funds in R. Kelly’s prison commissary account. According to Bloomberg, R. Kelly has a hefty prison commissary account with a balance of $28,328.24. Since R. Kelly has $140,000 worth of unpaid court fines, prosecutors are requesting to snatch those monies.

The Bureau of Prisons sent a letter to the federal government saying “that the defendant had accumulated substantial funds in his inmate trust account.” The government then requested that the Bureau of Prisons restrict his account and they obliged. The disgraced singer/producer can only use $500 to purchase things like food, clothes and other items.

His lawyer Jennifer Bonjean slammed the federal government on Twitter saying that they took Kelly’s money in an improper fashion.

Could the gov. be more unethical?,” she tweeted. “After seizing his funds and after sending this email, @EDNYnews decided to file a motion to confiscate his trust account money. You’re supposed to do that BEFORE you take the money.”

Bonjean also told The Washington Post that she feels that Kelly’s money in his account is none of the government’s business.

“My client has an appeal pending, and until the Second Circuit affirms his conviction, nobody should be touching any of his money,” Bonjean said.

She added that “neither the BOP nor any entity should have anything to say about whatever money he has in his commissary account.”

R. Kelly is serving 30 years in prison after being convicted of racketeering predicated on criminal conduct including sexual exploitation of children and violating the Mann Act. He is now awaiting his second federal trial in Chicago. He’s charged with luring minors into sex acts and making child pornography, The New York Times reported. That trial is set to start on August 15. Once that trial is completed, he will have to go on trial in Minnesota where he’s charged with two criminal counts of engaging in prostitution with a minor and hiring a minor to engage in sexual acts.

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