R. Kelly entered a not guilty plea to bribery charges pertaining to the alleged purchase of a fake ID for Aaliyah in 1994.
Kelly’s attorney -Steven Greenberg- entered the not guilty plea on behalf of the embattled singer in federal court Wednesday in Brooklyn, while Kelly was on a remote video feed from federal lock-up in Chicago.
Prosecutors say Kelly schemed with others to pay for a “fraudulent identification document” for someone identified only as “Jane Doe” on Aug. 30, 1994. A day later, Kelly, then 27, married 15-year-old R&B singer Aaliyah Dana Haughton in a secret ceremony at a hotel in Chicago.
The ID falsely stated she was 18, and made it possible for Kelly to marry Aaliyah on August 31, 1994. The marriage was annulled months later because of her age and pressure from her parents.
USA Today reports Kelly has already entered not guilty pleas to more than a dozen sex-crime charges filed against him in two federal courts and two state courts since February. The Brooklyn indictment includes charges of racketeering, kidnapping, forced labor and sexual exploitation. The Aaliyah allegation has been added to his existing counts.
Kelly’s attorney Douglas Anton has called the latest charge against his client “ridiculous and absurd.”
The 52-year old disgraced singer is scheduled to face trial in the federal case in Chicago in April and in the federal case in New York in May, with the state case in Chicago scheduled for September.