Singer R. Kelly alleges mistreatment after hospitalization and prison ‘murder plot'
CHICAGO (AP) — R. Kelly collapsed in prison and was hospitalized, attorneys said in court filings this week, adding the details to the singer's extraordinary allegations of a murder plot by prison officials that he argues require temporary release on home detention. Government lawyers have dismissed the claims as a 'fanciful conspiracy.'
Kelly, 58, is serving time at a Butner, North Carolina federal facility related to separate convictions for child sex crimes and racketeering.
In a series of filings that started last week, Kelly's attorneys claim prison officials sought out leaders of a white supremacist gang to kill him and prevent the release of damaging information on prison officials. After that filing, Kelly was moved to solitary confinement, his attorneys say. They also allege he was purposely given a medication overdose and required hospitalization and surgery for blood clots, but he was sent back to solitary.
'These people did overdose him. They did leave him with blood clots in his lungs and remove him from a hospital that sought to do surgery to remove them,' Kelly's attorney Beau B. Brindley wrote in a filing Tuesday. 'And they did it within days of his exposure of a plan to kill him set forth by Bureau of Prisons officials.'
Attorneys cite a declaration from a leader of the Aryan Brotherhood as among their evidence.
Government attorneys rejected the allegations as 'repugnant' and questioned whether a Chicago judge has jurisdiction to alter Kelly's sentence for separate convictions in Illinois and New York. Kelly has a Friday hearing at Chicago's federal court.
'Kelly has never taken responsibility for his years of sexually abusing children, and he probably never will,' government attorneys wrote. 'Undeterred, Kelly now asks this Court to release him from incarceration indefinitely under the guise of a fanciful conspiracy.'
The Bureau of Prisons declined to comment Tuesday, saying it does not discuss conditions of confinement or comment on pending legal matters.
The Grammy Award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty in Chicago in 2022 of three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex. In 2021, he was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in New York. His attempts to appeal have been unsuccessful, including to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kelly has also sought President Donald Trump's help.
He is serving most of his 20-year Chicago sentence and 30-year New York sentence simultaneously.
Kelly is known for work including the 1996 hit 'I Believe I Can Fly' and the cult classic 'Trapped in the Closet,' a multipart tale of sexual betrayal and intrigue.
Kelly sold millions of albums and remained in demand even after allegations about his abuse of young girls began circulating publicly in the 1990s. A 2008 trial in Chicago on child sexual abuse image charges ended in acquittal.
Widespread outrage over Kelly's sexual misconduct did not emerge until the #MeToo reckoning, reaching a crescendo after the release of the documentary 'Surviving R. Kelly.'
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Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
South Korea's last circus, Dongchoon, holds up as it marks centennial
ANSAN, South Korea (AP) — No more elephant and monkey acts. No more death-defying motorbike stunts. No more singing or acting on stage. Several hundred spectators still clapped constantly when acrobats with Dongchoon Circus Troupe, South Korea's last and 100-year-old circus, twirled on a long suspended fabric, juggled clubs on a large, rotating wheel and rode a unicycle on a tightrope under the big top. 'As I recall the hardship that I've gone through, I think I've done something significant,' Park Sae-hwan, the head of the circus, said in a recent Associated Press interview. 'But I also feel heavy responsibility because if Dongchoon stops, our country's circus, one genre in our performing arts, will disappear. That's the problem.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The golden age of circuses Founded in 1925, Dongchoon is Korea's oldest circus. In the golden ages of South Korean circuses in the 1960s when most households still had no TVs, Dongchoon travelled across the country, wowing audiences with then exotic animals like an elephant and a giraffe and a variety of shows including skits, comic talks, singing, dancing and magic shows. At its peak years, it had more than 200 artists, acrobats and other staff, according to Park. Like in many other countries, TVs and movies later syphoned off the audiences of Dongchoon and other circuses in South Korea. Their actors, singers and comedians moved to TV stations, and some became bigger stars. The advent of the internet, video games and professional sports were another blow. South Korean circuses also dropped animal shows that faced protests by animal rights campaigners. Now, Dongchoon is the only circus in South Korea after all its rivals went out of business. How Dongchoon survives Park, who joined Dongchoon in 1963, served as a show host and sometimes sang and acted in the circus's drama programs. He left the circus in 1973 and ran a lucrative supermarket business. In 1978, he returned to the circus industry by taking over Dongchoon, which was put up for sale after devastating typhoon damage. Park, now 80, said he worried Dongchoon could disappear into history after seeing newspaper reports that its assets would be split into parts and sold. 'I thought Dongchoon must not disappear. When we want to study the roots of our country's dramas, we should look back on the traces of Dongchoon. The same goes for the history of our other shows, traditional music performances and magic shows as well as circuses themselves,' Park said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Heo Jeong Joo, an expert at the All That Heritage Research Institute, also values highly the legacy of Dongchoon, which she said incorporated many traditional performers and artists who operated before its 1925 founding. 'Its foundation exceeds 100 years. In a historical perspective, I think it should be designated as an intangible cultural asset,' Heo said. Park said he almost closed the circus in 2009 after his shows drew only 10-20 spectators each for several months during a widespread flu outbreak. It survived after local media reports sympathizing with the plight of Dongchoon prompted many people to flock and fully pack shows for weeks, he said. Dongchoon leaps again at its seaside big top Since 2011, Dongchoon has been performing at a big top at a seaside tourist area in Ansan, just south of Seoul. Its circus workers also frequently travel to other areas for temporary shows. Dongchoon officials said their business is doing relatively well, drawing several hundred spectators on weekdays and up to 2,000 on weekends at Ansan alone. Ansan official Sharon Ham said local tourism has been boosted by Dongchoon's presence. She said Dongchoon shows are popular with both older generations wanting to recall childhood memories of circuses and younger generations seeking something new. 'It was a very impressive and meaningful circus,' Sim Chung-yong, a 61-year-old spectator, said after one show last week. 'But I also thought about how much big pains and hardships those circus acrobats underwent to perform like this.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Dongchoon officials say they now offer only acrobatic performances and refrain from too-risky acts because many people don't like them any longer. Its all 35 acrobats are now Chinese, as a circus job is generally shunned by more affluent South Koreans who consider it too dangerous and low-paying. Park said he bought land at Ansan where he hopes to build a circus school to nurture South Korean circus artists. Xing Jiangtao, 37, has been working for Dongchoon since 2002 — initially as an acrobat and now as its performance director. He recalled that when he first came to South Korea, he and his Chinese colleagues all worked as assistants to Dongchoon's 50 South Korean acrobats but they've all left one by one. 'Now, it's the only circus in South Korea, and I hope we will create good circus performances to show to spectators so that we can help Dongchoon exist for another 100 years,' Xing said in fluent Korean.
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
South Korea's last circus, Dongchoon, holds up as it marks centennial
ANSAN, South Korea (AP) — No more elephant and monkey acts. No more death-defying motorbike stunts. No more singing or acting on stage. Several hundred spectators still clapped constantly when acrobats with Dongchoon Circus Troupe, South Korea's last and 100-year-old circus, twirled on a long suspended fabric, juggled clubs on a large, rotating wheel and rode a unicycle on a tightrope under the big top. 'As I recall the hardship that I've gone through, I think I've done something significant,' Park Sae-hwan, the head of the circus, said in a recent Associated Press interview. 'But I also feel heavy responsibility because if Dongchoon stops, our country's circus, one genre in our performing arts, will disappear. That's the problem.' The golden age of circuses Founded in 1925, Dongchoon is Korea's oldest circus. In the golden ages of South Korean circuses in the 1960s when most households still had no TVs, Dongchoon travelled across the country, wowing audiences with then exotic animals like an elephant and a giraffe and a variety of shows including skits, comic talks, singing, dancing and magic shows. At its peak years, it had more than 200 artists, acrobats and other staff, according to Park. Like in many other countries, TVs and movies later syphoned off the audiences of Dongchoon and other circuses in South Korea. Their actors, singers and comedians moved to TV stations, and some became bigger stars. The advent of the internet, video games and professional sports were another blow. South Korean circuses also dropped animal shows that faced protests by animal rights campaigners. Now, Dongchoon is the only circus in South Korea after all its rivals went out of business. How Dongchoon survives Park, who joined Dongchoon in 1963, served as a show host and sometimes sang and acted in the circus's drama programs. He left the circus in 1973 and ran a lucrative supermarket business. In 1978, he returned to the circus industry by taking over Dongchoon, which was put up for sale after devastating typhoon damage. Park, now 80, said he worried Dongchoon could disappear into history after seeing newspaper reports that its assets would be split into parts and sold. 'I thought Dongchoon must not disappear. When we want to study the roots of our country's dramas, we should look back on the traces of Dongchoon. The same goes for the history of our other shows, traditional music performances and magic shows as well as circuses themselves,' Park said. Heo Jeong Joo, an expert at the All That Heritage Research Institute, also values highly the legacy of Dongchoon, which she said incorporated many traditional performers and artists who operated before its 1925 founding. 'Its foundation exceeds 100 years. In a historical perspective, I think it should be designated as an intangible cultural asset,' Heo said. Park said he almost closed the circus in 2009 after his shows drew only 10-20 spectators each for several months during a widespread flu outbreak. It survived after local media reports sympathizing with the plight of Dongchoon prompted many people to flock and fully pack shows for weeks, he said. Dongchoon leaps again at its seaside big top Since 2011, Dongchoon has been performing at a big top at a seaside tourist area in Ansan, just south of Seoul. Its circus workers also frequently travel to other areas for temporary shows. Dongchoon officials said their business is doing relatively well, drawing several hundred spectators on weekdays and up to 2,000 on weekends at Ansan alone. Ansan official Sharon Ham said local tourism has been boosted by Dongchoon's presence. She said Dongchoon shows are popular with both older generations wanting to recall childhood memories of circuses and younger generations seeking something new. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. 'It was a very impressive and meaningful circus,' Sim Chung-yong, a 61-year-old spectator, said after one show last week. 'But I also thought about how much big pains and hardships those circus acrobats underwent to perform like this.' Dongchoon officials say they now offer only acrobatic performances and refrain from too-risky acts because many people don't like them any longer. Its all 35 acrobats are now Chinese, as a circus job is generally shunned by more affluent South Koreans who consider it too dangerous and low-paying. Park said he bought land at Ansan where he hopes to build a circus school to nurture South Korean circus artists. Xing Jiangtao, 37, has been working for Dongchoon since 2002 — initially as an acrobat and now as its performance director. He recalled that when he first came to South Korea, he and his Chinese colleagues all worked as assistants to Dongchoon's 50 South Korean acrobats but they've all left one by one. 'Now, it's the only circus in South Korea, and I hope we will create good circus performances to show to spectators so that we can help Dongchoon exist for another 100 years,' Xing said in fluent Korean.
Toronto Star
an hour ago
- Toronto Star
Government says Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought ‘biological materials'
BOSTON (AP) — Attorneys argued over whether a Harvard researcher accused of smuggling frog embryos brought 'biological materials' into the U.S. in a court hearing Wednesday. Kseniia Petrova, a Russian-born scientist conducting cancer research for Harvard Medical School, appeared in Massachusetts federal court Wednesday for a probable cause hearing, where government and defense attorneys argued over whether she brought 'biological materials' into the U.S., ABC News reported. She was returning from a vacation from France in February when she was questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at Boston Logan International Airport. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Petrova, 30, had stopped at a lab specializing in splicing superfine sections of frog embryos and obtained a package of samples for research. Federal officials on the social media website X accused her of lying about 'carrying substances' into the country and alleged that she planned to smuggle the embryos through customs without declaring them. She told The Associated Press in an interview in April that she did not realize the items needed to be declared and was not trying to sneak anything into the country. Petrova was told her visa was being canceled and detained by immigration officials in Vermont after her initial arrest. She filed a petition seeking her release and was briefly sent to an ICE facility in Louisiana, after which a judge ruled the immigration officers' actions were unlawful. In May, she was charged with one count of smuggling. The Homeland Security Investigations agent who wrote the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, Brian Goldsworthy, testified Wednesday that Petrova would not have been able to leave the airport had she declared the frog embryos in her luggage, ABC News reported. He said that Customs and Border Protection agriculture experts and a federal laboratory that reviewed the samples deemed them to be biological material, ABC News reported. Petrova's attorney argued it was unclear what definition the government was operating under and the requirement to declare items entering the country doesn't hinge on whether something is a biological material, ABC News reported. After Wednesday's hearing, both sides will now have the opportunity to submit briefs to the judge. If convicted of the smuggling charge, Petrova faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
