An associate of disgraced R&B singer, R. Kelly has pleaded guilty this week to trying to bribe a witness to keep her from testifying against the singer.
According to Page Six, Richard Arline Jr. attempted to silence one of the singer’s accusers with hush money.
Prosecutors said he offered the woman $500,000 on behalf of R.Kelly who is awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
“Me and another person offered Jane Doe money for her to not go forward with her complaint or testimony against Robert Kelly,” said Arline Jr. “I knew what I did was wrong.”
Arline and the witness, one of Kelly’s accusers, spoke numerous times over the phone about a potential pay out from the singer in exchange for her silence, prosecutors said.
Jane Doe told the police about the potential bribe and recorded the phone calls with Arline, according to prosecutors.
“Rob, if I had talked to Rob on the phone and Rob got the money, he gonna pay [first name of Jane Doe] to be quiet,” Arline said according to documents.
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“Like if I had a way to talk to Rob, being next to him, and telling him what’s going on, without nobody listening to, no feds, nobody, he gonna pay her ass off to be quiet. She got too much. She got too much.”
Arline is one of three men charged with bribing or otherwise intimidating witnesses around the R. Kelly trial.
Kelly’s manager, Donnell Russell, allegedly threatened to spread nude photographs of another woman if she refused to back out of the trial against Kelly.
Another associate, Michael Williams is believed to have set an SUV on fire in front of the home of one of the accusers.
Kelly, 54, is accused of running a racketeering scheme that trafficked girls and women at his shows. He forced the girls to call him daddy, and did not allow them to eat or leave their rooms without his permission, prosecutors said.
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