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Disgraced singer R. Kelly is facing bribery charges related to his 1994 marriage to the late singer Aaliyah.
According to The NY Times, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Kelly on Thursday of bribing an Illinois government employee back in 1994 in order to obtain a fake ID for Aaliyah, so that the two could be married.
According to the indictment and sources close to the case, the fake ID was to be used to obtain a marriage license that listed Aaliyah’s age as 18.
The new allegation expands on an existing racketeering indictment filed in New York against Kelly that accuses him of sexually exploiting underage girls and coercing them into illegal sexual activity.
Prosecutors claim that fake ID purchase constitutes bribery, and that allegation has been added to the racketeering charge against him in the Eastern District of New York.
This year, the troubled singer has been criminally charged in several jurisdictions for sexual abuse of minors.
In an interview earlier this year with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Kelly’s lawyer Steven Greenberg said his client had “no idea” Aaliyah was actually 15 years old when they married in 1994.
“My understanding is that she did not claim to be 15, and in order to get married, she had to lie about her age,” Mr. Greenberg said at the time.
Despite the new charges, Kelly’s lawyer said that the new indictment “does not appear to materially alter the landscape.”
