New R. Kelly Sex Video Turned Over to Authorities, Lawyer Says

Once a dominant R&B; singer and hitmaker, Kelly, 52, has been trailed by allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse for years, but he has never been convicted of a crime. In 2008, he was acquitted of child pornography charges pertaining to a videotape that, prosecutors alleged, showed Kelly having sex with an underage girl.

Avenatti said in an interview and on Twitter that the tape, made in the late 1990s, was not the same tape in the 2008 trial. He said he had turned it over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office in Chicago, which has been looking into Kelly’s conduct but declined to answer questions about the tape Thursday.

The video, which is about 45 minutes long, includes two scenes, one in a living room and another in a bedroom, according to CNN, which said it had seen the tape.

Law enforcement officials in Illinois and Georgia, where Kelly has had homes, began looking into his behavior after the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” aired on Lifetime last month. The program detailed accusations that Kelly had sex with minors and kept young women in what has been described as a sex cult, preventing them from communicating with their families and exerting control over their lives, including whom they could look in the eye and when they could use the bathroom.

In a strongly worded statement Thursday, Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, questioned the credibility of Avenatti and CNN’s description of the video and said Kelly “denies that he has engaged in any illegal conduct, of any kind whatsoever.” He also portrayed the women who have spoken out against Kelly as being out for money: “Accuse R. Kelly and boom, make a buck.”

Avenatti rose to prominence representing Stephanie Clifford, an actress better known by her stage name, Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with President Donald Trump.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.