In this file photo taken on June 6, 2019 Singer R. Kelly arrives for a court hearing at the Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago. KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI /
R. Kelly has been transferred from prison in Chicago to a jail in New York ahead of his s3x crimes trial next month, records showed Wednesday.
The singer is now being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
The artist born Robert Sylvester Kelly was arrested on s3x-trafficking charges in July 2019.
He is accused of systematically recruiting girls for s3x while touring and coercing them into s3xual activity.
Kelly, 54, faces charges including racketeering, s3xual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery and forced labor. They span from 1994 to 2018.
Kelly has pleaded not guilty to all charges and jury selection is due to start on August 9.
The singer known for hits like “I Believe I Can Fly” has a decades-long history of abuse allegations, especially of underage girls.
He also faces federal charges in Chicago linked to his alleged s3xual abuse of minors.
Chicago prosecutors say Kelly filmed himself having s3x with minors and that he paid potential witnesses in his 2008 trial — in which he was acquitted of child pornography charges — to ensure their silence.
Kelly added a new lawyer to his legal team this week: New York attorney Deveraux Cannick.