A federal judge on Wednesday signalled that she plans to order disgraced R&B superstar R. Kelly to pay more than $300,000 to one of his victims in a decades-long scheme of using his fame to abuse young fans sexually.
U.S. District Judge Ann Connelly is working on a restitution order that is meant to cover the cost of treatment for herpes and psychotherapy of one of Kelly’s victims
Kelly could also be ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars more for herpes treatment and counseling for a second victim once the final tally is calculated. The judge struck out a third claim by another accuser.
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The big question now in the New York case becomes how and when Kelly will pay the restitution. Prosecutors claim he has access to as much as $5 million to go along with about $28,000 seized from his inmate commissary account that defense attorney Jennifer Bonjean said was made up of small donations from fans.
Bonjean told the judge that Kelly has no access to any other funds because of judgments in civil cases brought against him. She also insisted that her client doesn’t have the needed knowledge about his finances.
“He’s not the best source of that information,” she said.