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R. Kelly Sex Abuse Appeal: Star’s Attorney Says Feds Are Pushing RICO Laws ‘to the Point of Absurdity’

In R. Kelly’s sexual abuse case appeal, his attorney wants the RICO verdict against him overturned says federal racketeering charges weren't proven.

At a hearing before the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, lawyer Jennifer Bonjean told a panel of judges that Kelly’s employees had just been “unwitting” staffers performing “anodyne” tasks for a famous person, not a group with a criminal “purpose” like the Mafia or a drug cartel. At Monday’s hearing, Bonjean repeatedly told the judges that the government had failed to prove that members of Kelly’s organization knew crimes were being committed, meaning the RICO law didn’t apply. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Kayla Crews Bensing, arguing back for the government, sharply rejected that claim: “The defendant had a system in place that lured young people into his orbit and then took over their lives,” she told the judges.

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