R. Kelly allegedly obtained a fake ID to marry singer Aaliyah when she was 15 years old in 1994.
According to The New York Times, federal prosecutors brought charges against the R&B singer Thursday, saying he bribed a government employee 25 years ago to make an ID that listed Aaliyah as 18 years old.
The marriage license, which was first published in Vibe Magazine, was issued by Cook County, Illinois. The certificate shows that 27-year-old Robert Kelly married 18-year-old Aaliyah Haughton on August 31, 1994.
Kelly allegedly paid a government official for the fake ID a day before the marriage license was issued. However, the indictment doesn't specify which agency hired the employee who took the bribe. Aaliyah, who died in a plane crash in 2001 at 22 years old, is listed as Jane Doe #1 in the latest indictment against Kelly, The New York Times reports.
According to NPR, Kelly's former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, discussed the alleged fake ID before the latest indictment. Smith first spoke to journalist Jim DeRogatis in the book Soulless: The Case Against R. Kelly, saying the singer obtained the fake ID on behalf of Aaliyah. In the recent documentary Surviving R. Kelly, Smith repeated his assertion.
Kelly's lawyer, Steve Greenberg, discussed the singer's marriage with Aaliyah in a January Good Morning America interview. The lawyer said Kelly didn't know Aaliyah's actual age when they got married.
"Aaliyah did not claim to be 15," he said. "And in order to get married, she had to lie about her age."
The Chicago native has been facing accusations for more than 20 years, including kidnapping, forced labor and child pornography, NPR reports.
In an interview with CBS' Gayle King earlier this year, the 52-year-old said he didn't commit any of the sexual abuse crimes he's being accused of.
“Hate me if you want to, love me if you want,” he told King. “But just use your common sense. How stupid would it be for me, with my crazy past and what I’ve been through — oh, right now I just think I need to be a monster, hold girls against their will, chain them up in my basement, and don’t let them eat, don’t let them out.”
According to The New York Times, the sing and producer is currently detained in federal custody in Chicago.