The former manager of American musician R. Kelly, Donnell Russell, has been sentenced to prison for harassing victims of the singer’s sexual assaults.
Russell previously pleaded guilty to threatening, harassing and intimidating Kelly’s victims at the singer’s trial.
The Chicago district attorney reported in July that Donnell had threatened to release nude images of an unidentified victim if the lawsuit against the singer continued.
The statement read in part: “Between November 2018 and February 2020, Russell, a self-described manager, advisor and friend of Kelly’s, used mail, telephones and the Internet to harass and intimidate Jane Doe, a victim in the Kelly case, and her mother. After Jane Doe filed a civil suit against R. Kelly.
“Specifically, Russell threatened to release sexually explicit photographs of Jane Doe and make her sexual history public unless she dropped her lawsuit against Kelly and stopped participating and associating with the organizers of a “negative campaign” against Kelly.”
On Thursday, a federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced Russell to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, applauded the ruling and called it a “victory for crime victims.”
“The sentence imposed on the defendant today is a victory for victims of crimes, especially those of sexual assault and abuse, who are often reluctant to confront law enforcement or legal channels, given the trauma and fear of retaliation associated with publicly discussing their experiences,” Peace said. in the statement
Born Robert Sylvester Kelly, the artist was sentenced in June by a federal court in Brooklyn to 30 years in prison for recruiting and ensnaring teenagers and women for sex.
A New York jury also found him guilty in September 2021 of running a decades-long sex crime ring.
