R. Kelly Bond Set At $1 Million Following Arrest

A Cook County, IL judge set the bail for R&B singer R. Kelly for $1 million — $250,000 for each of the four people he’s charged with sexually abusing — during a hearing in Chicago on Saturday. the news comes a day after the Grammy winner was arrested and booked on 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse against four alleged victims, three of whom were underage at the time.

The Associated Press reported that a prosecutor told Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. at the bond hearing that one of the alleged underage victims first met Kelly when asking for his autograph during his 2008 child pornography trial. Kelly was acquitted of those charges, and has denied the current charges, which Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has said spanned more than a decade dating back to 2008.

Kelly’s lawyer Steve Greenberg told reporters Saturday after the hearing that the four alleged victims were lying, the AP said.

The bond calls for Kelly to post $100,000 to be released, the AP said.  Police released his booking photo today (see above).

Kelly, 52, attended the hearing Saturday. He voluntarily surrendered to Chicago police on Friday after a grand jury came down with the indictments, and he spent the night in jail. The counts are all Class 2 felonies in Illinois, including a probational offense that carries a potential sentence of 3-7 years.

The most recent spotlight on Kelly’s alleged sexual misconduct came after Lifetime earlier this year aired a documentary series Surviving R. Kelly, which featured alleged victims coming forward to detail his abusive past. After that, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti came forward with a video allegedly showing Kelly involved in sex acts with a 14-year-old girl.