R. Kelly's lawyer has denied reports suggesting that a special grand jury has been convened to hear evidence against the singer follow his latest sex tape scandal.
The I Believe I Can Fly hitmaker has been dominating headlines the release of documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, which detailed the decades of physical, sexual, and mental abuse allegations levelled against the star by a string of women, in January (19).
Last week (ends17Feb19), it was revealed that lawyer Michael Avenatti was representing a man in possession of a video which allegedly shows Kelly having sex with a 14-year-old girl and urinating on her.
The alleged tape was handed over to authorities at the Cook County State Attorney's Office in Chicago, Illinois, who was said to have subsequently convened a grand jury in a secret last week. However, Kelly's attorney Steven Greenberg has told TMZ that this is not true.
"I am unaware of any 'special' grand jury being convened to look into R. Kelly. There is no record of any such proceedings, and no need for them. The report is false," Greenberg said.
According to reporters at the website, a number of women who claim to be victims of the Ignition (Remix) singer were recently flown out to Chicago to watch the sex tape Avenatti had given prosecutors. They were reportedly brought in to watch the alleged tape and see if anything looked familiar, like the setting or the underage girl. The tape and the witnesses, who could potentially add context to the video, could be enough for a grand jury, comprised of a group of citizens, to indict Kelly.
"The allegations aren't true because he never knowingly had sex with an underage woman, he never forced anyone to do anything, he never held anyone captive, he never abused anyone," Greenberg told The Associated Press in January.
However, while giving details about the tape, Avenatti said in a statement that, "Mr. Kelly and the victim also verbally refer to the girl as only being 14 on multiple occasions on the video".
In 2008, Kelly was found not guilty of 14 counts of child pornography following the 2002 release of a sex tape showing the singer urinating on an alleged underage female.
