R. Kelly Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Aggravated Sexual Abuse

Update: On Monday, following a weekend in jail, R. Kelly plead not guilty to 10 counts of aggravated criminal sex abuse, the Chicago Tribune reports. Kelly's attorney Steve Greenberg, who last week said in a press conference that the four women accusing Kelly are "lying," filed the charges.

Kelly has still not posted bail, but the Associated Press reports that his team is gathering the money to do so in the next 48 hours.

After being charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse that took place between 1998 and 2010, R&B singer R. Kelly turned himself in to police custody late Friday, and failed to pay the $100,000 (around £76,598) bond needed for his release ahead of the trial.

According to the Chicago Sun Times, Kelly has spent two nights in custody and could possibly post bond today. Kelly’s defense attorney, Steven Greenberg, described his client’s finances as “a mess.” After Surviving R. Kelly was released, his record label RCA dropped him. Greenberg also told reporters that Kelly owes upwards of $160,000 (£122,554) in unpaid child support and is about to be evicted from his Near West Side studio, where he currently is behind on rent to the tune of $167,000 (£127,915).

Kelly’s hearing was held at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago – the same courthouse where he was acquitted of child pornography charges in 2008. This time, his bail was set to $1 million by Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. during Kelly’s first court appearance since turning himself in. Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. described the charges presented by prosecutors, which establish a more than 20-year history of using his fame to prey on and abuse women and girls, as “disturbing.”

Provided Kelly is able to post the six-figure bond, the singer has been ordered by the judge to surrender his passport, any weapons he may possess, and is forbidden from contacting anyone under 18 or any of the alleged victims and witnesses involved in the case.