Kelly denies teen nups bribe case
seven iPhones inside the apartment, along with three flashdrives and a pair of laptops.
Selassie, who was later arrested in Corona, Calif., was released under court supervision after surrendering his passport, and ordered to return for a Jan. 10 hearing. The suspect relocated to the West Coast after his New York apartment was searched on June 11, said Vinocur.
When authorities searched the California residence on Dec. 5, they recovered two Rolex watches, a monogrammed Gucci wallet, a diamond ring, a diamond and sapphire ring and six other sparkling baubles. Authorities alleged that he also spent some of the ill-gotten cyber-cash on expensive clothes and other high-end items.
According to Vinocur, a large amount of the stolen cryptocurrency remained uncollected and Selassie was “slowly spending the proceeds of his theft.”
“SIM swapping” is a scam where the victim’s phone number is transferred to a thief’s phone, allowing the scammer to make or receive calls and send text messages using the stolen digits. By changing the password, the thief can also keep the victim locked out of the device.
The prosecutors, in another court filing, called for Selassie to surrender details and names of potential witnesses regarding any possible alibi defense that he was “elsewhere than at the scene of the crime at the time of its commission.”
R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Wednesday to bribing an Illinois official to get a fake ID for Aaliyah a day before his marriage to the 15year-old singer in 1994.
The creepy crooner, 52, entered the plea in Brooklyn Federal Court via a video feed from Chicago.
Brooklyn prosecutors added the racketeering bribery charge to Kelly’s ongoing sex-trafficking case two weeks ago.
Kelly has been in custody in the Windy City since his July arrest on twin federal indictments out of New York and Illinois alleging child pornography, sex trafficking, kidnapping and forced labor.
Prosecutors don’t identify Aaliyah by name, but claim Kelly paid a public officials cash for “the creation of a fraudulent identification document for Jane Doe #1” after offering the bribe on Aug. 30, 1994.
A Cook County marriage certificate first obtained by Vibe magazine shows Kelly fraudulently married the singer a day later on Aug. 31, 1994.
Aaliyah’s age was falsely listed as 18, while Kelly was 27 at the time. The marriage was later annulled, court paperwork states.
Kelly’s lawyer, Douglas Anton, previously panned the new fake ID allegation as “ridiculous.”