R. Kelly Prosecutors Track Down $567k Owed to Singer for Royalties, Victims to Be Paid
Jun. 30 2023, Published 5:05 p.m. ET
R. Kelly is set to have a 6-figure check for royalties seized as part of prosecutors' attempt to collect on money owed to his victims, RadarOnline.com has learned.
According to court documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, a rep for Universal Music Publishing has informed the court of how much money it has in its possession owed to Kelly.
As we first reported, as part of his sentence in his New York criminal case, Kelly was ordered to pay $500k to his victims. So far, a total of $27k has been collected from Kelly.
Recently, the government fired off legal letters to Kelly’s record label and publisher in an effort to locate additional funds. The disgraced singer is currently locked up in a North Carolina prison.
In court, prosecutors demanded Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music answer questions about Kelly’s ongoing music royalties.
In response, Universal Music said it had $567,444.19 in its possession owed to Kelly for “music publishing royalties.” The publisher noted that it anticipated Kelly will be owed future royalties.
A rep for Universal said the amount of future payments is unknown because it will depend on the extent to which [Kelly’s] musical compositions are purchased, downloaded, synchronized or otherwise exploited during future royalty accounting periods.”
The rep said royalties are accounted on a semi-annual basis. Royalties owed for January 1 to June 30 are due to be paid on or before September 30, 2023. Any royalties earned from July 2023 to December 2023 will be paid out in March 2024.
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As RadarOnline.com previously reported, in 2021, Kelly was found guilty on all counts in his federal sex crimes trial.
In the case, Kelly was accused of racketeering, human trafficking, obstruction of justice and kidnapping.
The prosecutors claimed the singer ran a criminal enterprise that had the sole goal of recruiting young female victims for him to abuse.
A couple of months later, Kelly was convicted in a separate criminal case out of Illinois. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.