Celebrity attorney Michael Avenatti released a public statement claiming that he and his team have discovered a videotape of R. Kelly having sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl. The Chicago Police Department is expected to press charges soon.
CNN reports that it has seen the VHS tape in question and claims that the girl depicted in the video can be heard referring to her body parts as "14-year-old p***y" six different times. The disturbingly graphic events reportedly mimic much of the 2002 tape from Kelly's infamous trial, including urinating on the child. Kelly is reportedly seen performing multiple sexual acts on the young girl and prompting her to call him "daddy."
In a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday, Avenatti said he and his team "will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that this predator is brought to justice."
He also states that the investigation has been ongoing since April 2018 when his "office was retained by multiple clients in connection with allegations of sexual assault of minors by musical artist Robert Kelly."
The team decided to pursue investigations quietly "due to the importance of ensuring justice is finally done in this matter and because we are deeply concerned that Mr. Kelly has not been held accountable for his sexual abuse of young African-American girls, whom are especially vulnerable."
"Included in the evidence we recently uncovered and recovered is a VHS videotape of Mr. Kelly engaging in multiple sexual assaults of an underage girl," the statement continued. "This tape… has never previously been publicly disclosed or, until recently, provided to law enforcement."
The lawyer confirms, again, that this video is not the same piece of evidence used in the past in an attempt to prosecute the Pied Piper. More importantly, he states that all of the evidence spanning over two decades has been sent and received by Chicago's Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx. Avenatti refers to AG Foxx as a "dedicated prosecutor" who is "personally committed to investigating the matter fully."
Avenatti closed his statement by detailing the 10-month private investigation as "painstaking, detailed, expensive, and time-consuming."
"The time has come for him to finally be held accountable for his actions," he closed.
The nearly 43-minute video was reportedly discovered by an unidentified man who claims to have worked with R. Kelly for decades and met the young girl in the video several times, reports The New Yorker. The whistleblower is now being represented by Avenatti, who says his client turned the tape into Chicago authorities last weekend.
R. Kelly's attorney, Steve Greenburg, was reportedly unaware of the development at the time CNN reached out for comment.
"We are unaware of any new information involving Mr. Kelly," Greenburg said. "We have not been contacted by anyone. We have not been informed about any new information by anyone and we have not been contacted by law enforcement."
The State Attorney's Chief Communications Officer Tandra R. Simonton said, "We cannot confirm or deny an investigation."
Game on.
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