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.
Grammy Award winner and actress Kathryn Gallagher is one of the famous competitors trying to raise the most money during this year's Red Bucket Match-Up campaign.
An unmanned Dutch cargo ship may be in danger of capsizing in heavy seas off the coast of Norway after its crew was evacuated following a distress call.
Shark Barbara Corcoran spoke to Cheddar about what she considers to be possibly the "best job market we've ever seen for the last 10 years."
Sports trading card company Topps is combining with a special purposes acquisition company in a deal valued at $1.3 billion and seeking a public listing. Topps Co.
Barcodes have radically changed the world, helping fuel the rise of everything from massive companies like Walmart to major world powers like China. And it all started with a man daydreaming on a beach in 1949.
The CDC finally gets religion on surface transmission, Republicans put up a united front on new voting laws, Tim Cook hints at an Apple car, and Baylor spoils Gonzaga's perfect season.
Utah’s governor has signed a law requiring biological fathers to pay half of a woman’s out-of-pocket pregnancy costs.
Egypt is holding a gala parade celebrating the transport of 22 of its prized royal mummies from central Cairo to their new resting place in a massive new museum further south in the capital.
The latest pandemic headlines from the weekend, another fatal attack on the Capitol Police, Amazon drivers are peeing in bottles, and more.
Canopy Growth launched its a line of CBD beverages, the Quatro Sparkling Water, after a successful debut in Canada. Cheddar's Chloe Aiello reports.
