More claims raised against R. Kelly, one involving boy

NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking case say he had sexual contact with an underage boy in addition to girls, and the government wants jurors in his upcoming sex trafficking trial to hear those claims.

Prosecutors aired a wideranging raft of additional allegations — but not new charges — against the R&B star in a court filing Friday. Jury selection is due to start Aug. 9 in a New York federal court for Kelly, who denies ever abusing anyone.

The Grammy Awardwinning singer is charged with leading what prosecutors call a criminal enterprise of managers, bodyguards and other employees who allegedly helped him recruit women and girls for sex and pornography and to exercise a lot of control over them.

The charges involve six different women and girls, who aren’t named in court filings.

Now, prosecutors would also like jurors to hear about more than a dozen other people whom the government alleges that Kelly sexually or physically abused, threatened or otherwise mistreated. Among them, the government says, was a 17yearold boy and aspiring musician whom Kelly met at a McDonald’s in December 2006 and later invited to his Chicago studio.

After asking the boy what he would do to make it in the music business, Kelly propositioned and had sexual contact with him while he was still underage, according to prosecutors’ court filing.

Kelly’s sex life has drawn scrutiny since the 1990s, and he currently is also facing sexrelated charges in Illinois and Minnesota. He has pleaded not guilty.