- In 2019, R Kelly was arrested and charged with multiple counts
of sexual abuse and racketeering.
Two years later, his trials finally begin.
There are two federal cases,
one in New York, the other in Chicago.
- It seems as if his behavior has caught up with him.
- This is Jim DeRogatis.
He's a music critic and reporter
who's covered R Kelly for more than 20 years.
- And what these accumulated charges say
is that for 30 years,
he has been the head of a criminal enterprise
that was all designed to procure young girls
that he would videotape,
that he often physically and mentally abused,
and that this happened in full view
of the brightest spotlight in the world.
♪ I don't see nothing wrong ♪
♪ With a little bump and grind ♪
-Robert Sylvester Kelly, now 54, has a history of sex scandals
and abuse allegations spanning decades.
- The question that's gonna hang over the justice system
and rape culture in the United States is,
why wasn't he stopped in 2000?
Why wasn't he stopped in 2008?
- Kelly's first public sex scandal was in 1995,
when he married the singer Aaliyah.
He was 27. She was 15.
- He had procured, according to the federal government
in the new indictments, a falsified marriage certificate
and married Aaliyah when she was 15.
- Since then, he's allegedly been in multiple relationships
with underage girls
and has been sued for emotional distress and sexual abuse
by several women since 1996.
All of these were settled
and never brought to criminal trial.
♪ I believe I can fly ♪
♪ I believe I can touch the sky ♪
-Then in 2002, when DeRogatis was a music critic
at the "Chicago Sun-Times," he received a video.
- 26 minutes and 39 seconds of crystal-clear video of Kelly
sexually abusing,
directing a 14-year-old high school girl from Oak Park,
the suburb just west of Chicago.
- The video is handed over to the Chicago police,
and Kelly is charged with 21 counts of child pornography,
as well as 12 counts in Florida.
The Florida charges came out after police
searched his rental home in Davenport
and found incriminating evidence on his camera equipment.
It took six years for the case to go to trial,
during which Kelly still released his music.
♪ There's a mystery going on, and I'm gonna solve it ♪
♪ And I'm like, God, please don't let this man ♪
♪ Open this closet ♪
-Kelly is eventually found not guilty
in both Chicago and Florida.
Insufficient evidence, they say.
The federal government discovered later that the victim
and her parents were bribed to keep quiet.
- Every system in the US failed these young Black girls --
the courts, the lawyers who took settlement money
rather than pressing criminal charges,
the rest of the press corps, the music industry.
Aside from a handful of police investigators,
everybody failed these girls.
- In 2017, after nine months of reporting,
DeRogatis wrote another big story.
- This was the story about Kelly maintaining a cult in Chicago
and Atlanta of young women who he told how to dress,
when to eat, forbid from speaking to anyone else.
If anyone entered the room,
they had to turn and face the wall.
Punished them physically and mentally
if they broke any of his rules.
- Kelly denied everything. - Quit playing.
I didn't do this stuff.
This is not me.
I'm fighting for my [bleep] life.
- But after the BuzzFeed report
and "Surviving R Kelly" aired on Lifetime,
the federal government started its investigation.
Kelly was finally arrested in July 2019.
He faced 13 charges in Chicago and 5 in New York.
But since then, the feds have added more to the list.
- Everyone I spoke to got a knock on the door
from federal investigators,
the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security.
I can't believe it's not a thorough case
because they've had two years to prepare,
and before that, a year and a half they were investigating.
And as I said, they didn't leave any stone unturned.
It's gonna be an interesting --
It's estimated to take about four weeks.
I assume we're gonna learn stuff every day.