Source: Cook County Department of Corrections / Cook County Department of Corrections
A Brooklyn judge has ordered for R.Kelly to drain more than $28,000 from his prison commissary to pay restitution to his victims.
On September 9, Federal Judge Ann Donnelly gave officials from the Bureau of Prisons the green light to seize nearly $28,328.24 from Kelly’s trust account in jail. The funds will be placed in an interest-accruing account until Donnelly can determine how the money will be dispersed to victims impacted by the R&B star’s vicious sex-trafficking crimes, the New York Post reported. If the interest-bearing account exceeds the amount of restitution, the remaining balance will be applied to “a fine and JTVA assessment,” ABC 7 added.
R.Kelly owes court fees and fines
In August, prosecutors blocked Kelly from accessing his commissary money after they discovered “substantial funds in his inmate trust account.” Court officials prohibited the singer from using the funds due to unpaid fees and fines. Court documents note that Kelly owes over $140,000 in unpaid court-related fees. Following his sentencing in June, Judge Donnelly slammed the Chicago native with a $100,000 fine and a $40,000 human trafficking penalty.
“The government is entitled to the defendant’s funds because he owes substantial fines,” Donnelly wrote in a statement following the ruling. “I am also mindful of victims’ rights ‘to full and timely restitution,’” the judge said, adding:
“Once restitution is determined by the court, the Clerk of Court should apply the monies held in the interest-bearing account first to the $900 special assessment and then to the restitution judgment.”
Last month, R. Kelly’s lawyer Jennifer Bonjean lit into judge Donnelly and the BOP for “impermissibly” confiscating the star’s trust account money.
“Neither the BOP nor any entity should have anything to say about whatever money he has in his commissary account,” Bonjean wrote in a lengthy email, noting how government officials cut off access to the account “with no notice” to Kelly and “without any court order.”
In late June, R.Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison on charges including sexual exploitation of a child, racketeering, bribery and sex trafficking.
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