R. Kelly is suing the United States government to retrieve his commissary funds, which were seized to settle a judgment against him.
On Monday, Assistant United States Attorney Kayla Bensing will give oral arguments representing the United States in a livestream session.
“The defendant is appealing his conviction and the government’s seizure of his substantial Bureau of Prisons commissary account to satisfy the financial penalties imposed in the case,” read the announcement.
Last March, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Heather Williams could access the singer’s $1.5 million label fund, despite Midwest Commercial Funding’s separate $3.5 million ruling against Kelly for unpaid rent on a Chicago studio.
According to reports, Williams won a $4 million judgment in 2020 against the singer after filing a civil lawsuit the year after accusing the singer of luring her to his studio on a promise that she could be in a music video but instead claimed that he had repeated sexual contact with her when she was only 16.
In August, Kelly and his label, Universal Music Group, handed over over $500,000 in royalties. This followed a previous order, signed on August 23, that required Kelly to surrender $28,000 from his prison canteen.
This is the most recent lawsuit the disgraced singer has to deal with while serving a 30-year sentence after being found guilty of several counts of child pornography and sex trafficking.
