R. Kelly‘s former manager Donnell Russell has pleaded guilty to harassing and intimidating one of the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer’s victims.
According to the New York Post, Russell pleaded guilty to interstate stalking in a Brooklyn federal court earlier this week after he was accused of attempting to blackmail one of R. Kelly’s alleged sexual abuse victims by exposing sexually explicit photos of them.
Federal prosecutors detailed how Russell demanded that the unnamed victim drop their civil suit against Kelz and that they also disassociate from a campaign damaging R. Kelly’s public image otherwise he would “reveal her sexual history.”
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Last week, Russell was convicted of threatening harm by interstate communication after he called in a bomb threat to an NYC club following a screening of 2018’s Lifetime Surviving R. Kelly docu-series.
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From late 2018 through February 2020, Russell attempted to coerce the Jane Doe victim into backing down by sending letters written on behalf of R. Kelly to the victim’s lawyer with cropped photos of her nude attached.
Russell went on to text the victim himself with threats using the same nude photos. He allegedly moved on to sending those photos to the victim’s mother with messages such as: “Publishing soon” and “You’ve been warned.”
He also started a Facebook group defending R. Kelly and disparaged all of the claims made in the Lifetime docu-series in early 2019. Russell faces up to five years in prison and will be sentenced in November.
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As for R. Kelly, the disgraced R&B singer was sentenced to 30 years in prison by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in June and the 55-year-old could theoretically spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Kelz was convicted on nine counts of various racketeering and sex trafficking charges during September 2021’s trial.
