Federal prosecutors announced charges Wednesday against three men accused of threatening and intimidating women who have accused R&B singer R. Kelly of abuse, including one man suspected of setting fire to a vehicle in Florida.
A longtime friend of the indicted singer offered to pay a victim $500,000 to keep her from cooperating in Kelly's prosecution, authorities said, while a manager and adviser of Kelly threatened to release sexually explicit photographs of a woman who sued Kelly.
The Grammy-award winning musician has denied ever abusing anyone and has pleaded not guilty to dozens of state and federal sexual misconduct charges in Illinois, Minnesota, and New York.
The charges range from sexual assault to heading a racketeering scheme aimed at supplying Kelly with girls. Kelly also is accused of having unprotected sex with a girl in 2015 without disclosing he had herpes.
Prosecutors described a third man accused of intimidating witnesses as being related to a former Kelly publicist. They said Michael Williams, 37, of Valdosta, Georgia, traveled to Florida in June and set fire to an SUV parked outside a residence where one of Kelly's victims was staying.
Williams also conducted Internet searches for "the detonation properties of fertilizer and diesel fuel, witness intimidation and witness tampering and countries that do not have extradition with the United States," authorities said in a news release.
A message was sent to Williams' attorney seeking comment.
The White House is pushing a new reason to swipe right: Dating apps are starting to offer vaccination badges and “super swipes” for people who've gotten their coronavirus shots.
A fragile truce between Israel and Gaza appears to be holding, vaccine boosters on the way, taking a look at Ford's 'Cybertruck killer,' the worst plastic polluters, and more news and insight from the week.
Anyone who gets vaccinated at select state-run vaccination sites in New York next week will receive a lottery scratch ticket with prizes potentially worth millions, as the state tries to boost slowing vaccination rates.
Amazon says it will extend its ban on police use of its face-recognition technology beyond the one-year pause it announced last year.
The number of Americans seeking unemployment aid fell last week to 444,000, a new pandemic low and a sign that the job market keeps strengthening as consumers spend freely again, viral infections drop and business restrictions ease.
Jill and Carlo talk about the EU's plan to open borders and fantasize about what a national summer holiday would look like. Plus, a troubling rise of anti-Semitism as signs emerge of a possible ceasefire in Gaza, and how a band of curious 5-year-olds foiled a hijacking in progress.
The European Union has taken a step toward relaxing travel for visitors from outside the bloc, with EU ambassadors agreeing on measures to make it easier for fully vaccinated visitors to get in.
New York dives back into normalcy, strong vax uptake among teens, latest from Gaza, Americans go shopping and Jill talks about the trials of modern parenting.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has disclosed that he was paid a $3.1 million advance to write his COVID-19 leadership book last year and will make another $2 million on the memoir over the next two years.
Biden dips into the vax supply to donate abroad, no signs of a ceasefire in Gaza, the media industry getting smaller, and the biggest complaint from Starbucks baristas.
