R Kelly arraigned on bribe charge linked to Aaliyah wedding

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he schemed with others to pay for a fake ID for an unnamed female a day before he married R&B singer Aaliyah, then 15 years old, in a secret ceremony in 1994.

Kelly entered the plea in New York via a video feed from Chicago, where he remains jailed while facing multiple sex crime and other criminal charges.

A revised indictment filed earlier this month in federal court in Brooklyn accuses Kelly of paying a bribe in exchange for a “fraudulent identification document” for someone identified only as “Jane Doe” on Aug. 30, 1994.

A day later, Kelly, then 27, married Aaliyah in a secret ceremony he arranged at a hotel in Chicago.

The marriage was annulled months later because of her age.

Aaliyah died in a plane crash in 2001 at age 22.

The US attorney’s office has declined to comment about whom the fake ID was meant for, and the indictment didn’t mention the wedding, but a person familiar with the investigation has confirmed the “Jane Doe” was Aaliyah.

The person wasn’t authorised to discuss details of the new charge and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kelly told the judge on Wednesday that he understood the charges before a lawyer in Chicago entered the plea.

Wearing an orange jail outfit, he had smiled as the attorney greeted him then stood with his hands behind his back during the brief proceeding.

The new charges marked the first time that Kelly’s brief marriage to Aaliyah has been connected to any of the criminal cases against Kelly.

His attorneys have called the charges baseless.

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