Woman From Infamous R. Kelly Tape Is Cooperating With Prosecutors for the First Time: Report

Evan Minsker
After the then-underage girl refused to testify in a 2008 trial, Kelly was acquitted. She’s now in her 30s and talking to federal investigators.

In February 2002, a VHS tape that allegedly showed R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl was anonymously mailed to reporter Jim DeRogatis. DeRogatis, then with the Chicago Sun-Times, turned the tape over to the police, and later that year, Kelly was charged with making child pornography. The girl and her family refused to testify, and in June 2008, R. Kelly was acquitted on all charges.

A lawyer for that woman, now in her 30s, told The New York Times today that she is cooperating with federal investigators. While the nature of her cooperation with prosecutors is currently unclear, the news comes after a federal indictment claimed that Kelly was accused of paying the woman and her father to stay quiet. The woman’s refusal to testify was widely credited as the reason for Kelly’s 2008 acquittal.

R. Kelly was arrested in Chicago on Thursday, July 11 on federal sex trafficking charges. Today, he was denied release on bond and entered a plea of not guilty.

Read “The Struggle to Silence R. Kelly” on the Pitch.

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork