R Kelly faces years in jail as he’s sentenced for racketeering and sex trafficking

metro.co.uk:

multiple counts of racketeering, with the charges relating to bribery and forced labour, by a jury in September last year.Kelly, 55, was also found in violation of an anti-sex trafficking law known as the Mann Act.The singer, who denied all charges, was found guilty on all nine counts against him following a six-week trial in Brooklyn, New York.His conviction carries a minimum sentence of 10 years, but he may receive a sentence of up to life imprisonment for his crimes.Federal prosecutors have asked for a sentence ‘in excess of 25 years’ though the singer’s own lawyers have asked he receive under 10.Several victims of his abuses are expected to give victim impact statements to the court, and Kelly himself may even make statements, having declined to take the stand during the trial.The singer – real name Robert Sylvester Kelly – has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn since the verdict.As the US singer found fame after he performed on the talent TV show Big Break as part of the group MGM in 1989, but he left the group in 1993 to launch his solo career.Kelly’s debut solo album 12 Play was released in November of that year, which featured his first number one hit Bump N’ Grind.In 1998, he was nominated for several Grammy awards for his song I Believe I Can Fly, which won him best male R&B vocal performance, best R&B song and best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media.The song became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, advertisements and elsewhere, including the inauguration of former US president Barack Obama in 2008.Kelly went on to release a total of six studio albums and worked with famous faces in the music industry including Jay-Z,.