*R. Kelly‘s life is about to be tossed upside down again for what you might call deja vu reasons. Would you believe a sex tape showing Kelly allegedly assaulting a young girl has been turned over to Cook County law enforcement officials, according to the Chicago Sun Times.
The news outlet is reporting that infamous LA-based attorney Michael Avenatti (Stormy Daniels) issued a statement Thursday saying that his firm was retained last April by several people who alleged they were sexually assaulted by Kelly. Avenatti says the investigation “has now resulted in the discovery of significant new evidence conclusively establishing Mr. Kelly’s illegal sexual assault of young girls.”
“Further, the time frame of sexual assaults depicted in the video is within the Illinois statute of limitations,” he added.
Here’s the deja vu part: Avenatti says his firm found a previously unknown, 45-minute video that clearly shows Kelly “engaging in multiple sexual assaults of a girl underage.” The tape, witnesses and other information were turned over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The state’s attorney’s office would not immediately comment Thursday, and Kelly’s attorney, Steve Greenberg, did not respond to a request for comment. Greenberg previously told the Sun-Times: “Mr. Kelly did not sexually abuse anybody, at any time.”
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Here’s more from the Sun Times:
The tape’s existence was first reported in the New Yorker in a story by former Sun-Times reporter Jim DeRogatis, who first broke the news of Kelly’s alleged sexual impropriety in 2000. Kelly was acquitted of charges in 2008 over another sex tape that officials claimed showed him engaging in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl.
Citing an anonymous senior law enforcement official, the New Yorker reports that legal action against Kelly could be forthcoming. Chicago police could not confirm that Thursday afternoon.
Kelly has repeatedly denied any allegations of wrongdoing.
Last month, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx made a public plea for accusers to come forward so that the office could investigate. Foxx said she was “sickened” by the accounts described in the “Surviving R. Kelly” Lifetime television series, but said she has not — and cannot — open a criminal probe in the absence of cooperating witnesses.
After Foxx’s plea, at least two women contacted the state’s attorney’s office with new allegations, although one later told the Sun-Times she was not going to pursue a case at that time.
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