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UPDATED: 2:39 p.m. EDT, Feb. 26 — The identity of the “friend” who bailed R. Kelly out of jail has been revealed. According to a new report, Valencia Love paid the $100,000 that was needed to guarantee the disgraced singer’s conditional release from jail after his indictment and arrest for 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Click here to find out everything we know about Valencia Love.

 

Original story:

 

Just about everyone was scratching their heads at how R. Kelly managed to bail himself out of jail after his lawyer told a judge that the disgraced singer was broke. Kelly, who on Friday was charged with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, walked out of Cook County jail late Monday after posting $100,000 bail following a weekend behind bars.

See Also: R. Kelly GoFundMe Accounts Pop Up As Singer Struggles With Bail

The mystery over how he gathered the funds to post bond persisted even after the Chicago Tribune, citing court documents, reported that a “friend” of Kelly’s paid his bail.

“He was unable to come up with the money over the weekend, but court records indicate that on Monday a 47-year-old suburban Romeoville woman posted the bond for Kelly, identifying herself on the bond slip as ‘a friend’ of the singer’s,” the news outlet wrote.

Prior to the timely appearance of Kelly’s “friend,” the disgraced singer’s lawyer insisted that his client was broke.

“This is someone who should be wealthy,” defense attorney Steve Greenberg said Saturday, pointing to bad contracts and mismanagement of money as part of the reasons that Kelly’s pockets are supposedly empty.

Prosecutors charged Kelly, 52, over sex crime allegations involving at least three underage victims between 1998 and 2010, with each count carrying a maximum of seven years behind bars. On Saturday, Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. called the allegations against Kelly “disturbing” and said the bond amount equaled $250,000 for each of the four people Kelly is charged with sexually abusing.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a county judge ordered Kelly evicted from a city building for which he owed nearly $80,000 in back rent. Kelly was also “several months behind on child support payments that amount to $20,000 each month,” according to CBS Chicago.

Given all of the above — especially with an unofficial net worth of about $1 million — how could Kelly muster up $100,000, even for someone who used to be worth tens of millions of dollars at the height of his career? Perhaps even more surprising than him making bail was the fact that it was paid by a woman, seeing as Kelly has been called a sexual predator, especially of children.

According to one theory shared on social media, “Ron Isley or Charlie last name Wilson helped R Kelly out with the bail money,” tweeted @hungrybutfine.

BlackSportsOnline had a similar idea.

“They aren’t going to publicly state who they are especially the rich ones, but someone has come through for him. Kelly didn’t have a $100k on him, but one of his friends gave him a loan (so another debt he has),” the site stated.

One Twitter user brought attention to what appeared to be more than two dozen GoFundMe accounts created to raise money for Kelly.

Here’s another theory on Twitter: “Y’all finally get ya tax money and use it to bail R Kelly out of jail???? Unbelievable,” @CodeeVodee wrote.

Kelly does not have the career he had more than a decade ago when he faced child pornography charges and was acquitted.

His last song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 was “PYD” with Justin Bieber in 2013. The fallen star was reportedly being evicted in January from the infamous Chicago recording studio that was at the center of his child porn trial, bringing attention to the state of his finances.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that a “county judge ordered Kelly evicted from the building. Midwest Commercial Funding sued Kelly last summer, alleging he owed the company nearly $80,000 in back rent. The judge ruled in Midwest Commercial Funding’s favor, court records show, and awarded the company $166,981 while also issuing an ‘order of possession’ for Midwest Commercial Funding.”

SEE ALSO:

R. Kelly Finally Raises Funds To Post Bail

R. Kelly’s Lawyer Says Double Jeopardy Should Protect Singer From New Sex Charges

Taraji P. Henson Pulverized On Twitter For Comparing R. Kelly To Harvey Weinstein
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