Judge refuses to lower R. Kelly's child support payments
A week after ordering R. Kelly jailed for failing to pay child support, a Cook County judge has refused to reduce the embattled R&B singer's monthly payments to his ex-wife, according to his attorneys. Wednesday's hearing on the child support payments was sealed to the public, but Kelly's attorneys confirmed afterward that there would be no change in the $21,000 monthly child support payments he is required to pay, reports CBS Chicago.
Kelly was jailed last Wednesday after failing to comply with a court order to pay more than $161,000 in overdue child support. He was released Saturday after an anonymous person paid the cash, the station reports.
"I promise, we will straighten this out," Kelly told reporters Saturday. "That is all I can say right now."
The child support issue is separate from Kelly's criminal case, in which he faces 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Kelly was indicted last month on the charges involving four victims, three of whom were underage, in incidents spanning more than a decade.
Kelly denied the allegations in an explosive interview with CBS News' Gayle King.
"I didn't do this stuff! This is not me," Kelly told King. "I am fighting for my f***ing life!"
He said the women accusing him were all lying. Kelly at times cried, yelled and leaped up from his chair during the interview.
He told King he had about $350,000 left in his bank account.
Kelly reportedly stopped making the monthly payments, required under the terms of his 2009 divorce, last spring. Speaking Wednesday, Kelly's lawyer Steve Greenberg said Kelly sought to have the child support payments reduced because he's not working.
"If you can't play a show, if you can't go out on tour, if they're not streaming your music anymore, obviously you're going to have financial problems. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure that out," Greenberg said.
Kelly's publicist, Darryll Johnson, said Kelly has no assets to sell, reports CBS Chicago. Johnson said Kelly doesn't own his condo in Chicago's Trump Tower and paid rent in advance several years ago. Johnson said he and Kelly's attorneys are representing him for free.
The next hearing in the child support case is scheduled for May 8.