The woman who put up money for R. Kelly to bond out of jail earlier this year, now wants it back since the singer was indicted on federal charges.
In February Valencia Love paid $100,000 in four payments of $25,000 to get Kelly out after he was hit with 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Chicago. Kelly spent a total of three nights behind bars before he was released.
The charges came after attorney Michael Avenatti said he gave a video tape to Chicago State prosecutors of Kelly having sex with an underage girl. The singer also received 11 more sexual abuse charges in May out of Chicago.
Kelly’s federal arrest came in July with charges out of Northern District of Illinois and the Eastern District of New York. The charges in those two cases include child pornography, obstruction of justice and sex trafficking.
But according to Love’s attorney, his client had no idea Kelly was facing federal charges, and she’s since filed a motion to get her money back. Love also said Kelly is a man of “vast resources,” which implies he didn’t need her help in the first place.
Love reportedly met the disgraced artist on a boat cruise, and they became friends afterward.
She currently owns a diner outside of Chicago called Love On The Blu, and business has reportedly suffered since news of her bond money came to light. She also owns several other businesses, including a child care facility called Lord and Child Christian Day Care.
But Judge Lawrence Flood denied her motion, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and Love won’t be able to get any of that money back. The decision was made on Tuesday in a Chicago courtroom during one of Kelly’s status hearings. Her lawyer was present, as was Kelly but Love wasn’t.
“There’s a certain risk that a surety has in signing a bond slip on behalf of someone in custody. She took that risk,” Flood said, according to local public radio station WBEZ.
A little after she bonded the singer out, Love gave a statement to Fox 32 News and explained why she decided to put up the money.
“I’m not going to say it was my money or his money, and he’s not broke,” she stated. “He was going to post bond by Thursday anyway. He’s my friend and I knew he needed help. There are three sides to every story, his side, theirs and the truth. … As a friend, if he says he’s innocent, I can only believe that he is innocent.”
