NEW YORK—A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld former R&B superstar R. Kelly’s sex trafficking conviction and 30-year prison sentence.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected Kelly’s claims that federal prosecutors failed to prove he led a racketeering scheme where he recruited underage girls for sex and then violated several victims.
Circuit Judge Denny Chin said prosecutors offered “extensive evidence showing how Kelly ensnared young girls and women into his orbit, endeavored to control their lives, and secured their compliance with his personal and sexual demands through verbal and physical abuse, threats of blackmail, and humiliation.”…