Afouda Bamidele
·4 min read
The prison officer being sued by R. Kelly has finally addressed his invasion of privacy claims with a bold rebuttal!
The defendant denied all allegations of wrongdoings brought against them by the disgraced R&B star, arguing that he did not suffer damages from the incident. The prison officer has reportedly retired since the case broke.
R. Kelly filed a federal lawsuit against the government and prison officials, accusing them of leaking his private information to the blogger Tasha K.
Former Prison Officer Wants R. Kelly's Lawsuit Dismissed
The drama between Kelly and the retired prison officer began during his stay at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago. He was incarcerated in the facility following his infamous July 2019 arrest before being moved to a facility in North Carolina last year.
Kelly claimed in his lawsuit that during his stay, prison employees used the internal prison system to assess his emails, visitor, and phone logs. He believed the information was sold to Tasha K, who published it on her platform.
The retired officer refuted these allegations in court documents obtained by In Touch,arguing that Kelly was "not in a place where" he should expect privacy. They claimed he was not harmed and noted their conduct was neither outrageous nor intentional.
On that note, the defendant's lawyer implored the court to dismiss Kelly's claims and offer him no compensation for his complaint. The guard's response comes weeks after the government clapped back at the lawsuit.
Government Reps Previously Slammed R. Kelly's Lawsuit
Earlier this month, The Blastshared that the government had zero plans on fighting against Kelly in court. They addressed his negligence and invasion of privacy claims through their attorney, noting:
"The United States is not subject to institutional liability stemming from allegedly widespread negligent practices or policies."
The government stressed that they did not fail in their duty to care for Kelly despite admitting their investigations revealed a prison official had provided Tasha K with sensitive information.
Uncle Sam refused to be held accountable for the leak and asked for the case to be dismissed. Kelly called out the government in his lawsuit for failing to control its Bureau of Prison (BOP) officers and allowing them to abuse their power unchecked.
The Disgraced Singer Claimed The Government Knew About The Leak
In his lawsuit, Kelly slammed the government for allegedly knowing about the BOP officers' crimes but doing nothing to stop them. He tried to hold them accountable for negligence, with part of his claims reading:
"The Defendant Unites States of America knew that [one of the employees] and [the other prison workers] routinely accessed [Kelly's] private information from its systems and divulged private information to third parties for monetary gain, clout, or simple harassment."
Kelly argued that the prison officials and Tasha K's alleged actions not only invaded his privacy but also significantly harmed his reputation. Their crimes also caused him severe emotional distress.
R. Kelly Continues To Fight For His Freedom
The invasion of privacy lawsuit wasn't the only case Kelly was linked to, with The Blastreporting his ongoing fight for freedom. In July, he requested the dismissal of his convictions for possession of child p*rnography and inducing minors to have sex.
His attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, argued that he was serving time for crimes allegedly occurring from the mid to late-1990s when the PROTECT Act wasn't passed until 2003. This law made the statute of limitations indefinite for child sex crimes, but a loophole was exploited in Kelly's case.
Bonjean argued that the PROTECT Act only applied to crimes committed after it was passed in 2003. Since there was no clause for punishing crimes before the highlighted date, Kelly should not be penalized for his 90s charges.
Inside R. Kelly's Infamous Child p*rnography Case
After 11 hours of deliberations in 2022, jurors found Kelly guilty of six out of thirteen charges — three for child p*rnography and three for inducement counts. The Infamous child sex trial began in mid-August, with one of the victims being the singer's goddaughter.
A gut-wrenching video captured him abusing the then-14-year-old, who claimed he had intercourse with her "innumerable times."She alleged that their sexual encounters occasionally involved other underage girls whom he urged her to find.
Although prosecutors wanted him to spend more time behind bars, Kelly was given a combined sentence of 31 years for his child sex crimes, conspiracy, and enticement charges.
R. Kelly remains behind bars, awaiting the results of his appeal case while pushing his leaked information lawsuit.
