Federal prosecutors stated Tuesday that a close advisor of R. Kelly, who was convicted of sex trafficking, had admitted to intimidating and harassing one of the R&B singer’s victims.
According to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, Donnell Russell, a native of Chicago and Kelly’s self-described manager, admitted to interstate stalking in federal court in Brooklyn after being accused of threatening to make the victim’s sexually explicit images public.
According to the prosecution, Russell sent the victim a warning that if she did not drop her civil lawsuit against Kelly, he would publicly disclose her sexual background.
He ordered her to “cease her participation and association with organizers” of a “negative campaign” against the singer.
In September 2021, Kelly was found guilty of decades-long sexual abuse of women, young girls, and boys.
“When his initial effort failed, he continued his vile campaign by sending threatening messages to Jane Doe and her mother and publishing explicit photos of the victim on the internet before and after Kelly was indicted.”
“As this prosecution makes clear, the defendant’s conduct was not only reprehensible but also criminal and will not be tolerated.”
According to the feds, Russell assisted in the November 2018 delivery of a letter and attachments to the victim’s Brooklyn attorney that was reportedly written by Kelly and contained cropped pictures of the victim in her underwear. “The next two pictures have been cropped for the sake of not exposing her extremities to the world, yet!!!” the letter’s text read.
The victim and her mother received a torrent of texts the following month from Russell under the alias Colon Dunn, with the subject line “Just a sample. We will seek criminal charges. You’ve been warned,” and “Publishing soon.”
Additionally, he texted, “This is Colon.”
He contacted the victim and her mother again at the beginning of 2019, warning them to “Pull the plug, or you will be exposed.”
Then, in January 2020, he displayed the sexually explicit images while conducting live interviews with YouTube vloggers who stood with Kelly despite his escalating legal issues.
Russel is facing up to five years behind bars.
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