Lawyer Michael Avenatti says he is representing two of the women who are accusing R&B singer R. Kelly of sexual assault and that he has provided prosecutors with 40 minutes of video evidence.
“We’re going to do everything in our power … to make sure 2019 is not a repeat of 2008,” Avenatti said, referring to Kelly’s 2008 child pornography trial that ended in acquittal.
Kelly is facing 10 counts of aggravated sexual abuse of four female victims dating back to 1998. Prosecutors allege three of the victims were between the ages of 13 and 17 at the time.
In a news conference in Chicago on Friday, Avenatti said he was representing two victims, two parents, and two people who were part of Kelly’s inner circle.
Steve Greenberg, Kelly’s attorney, denied the allegations Saturday, speaking to reporters after a judge set Kelly’s bond at $1 million. He said that the women were lying about the allegations and that Kelly “is a rock star. He doesn’t have to have nonconsensual sex.”
Greenberg blamed the allegations on #MeToo, a cultural movement in which women and men have come forward to share their stories of being sexually assaulted or harassed, and pleas for help being ignored.
“Unfortunately, there’s this whole hashtag movement,” Greenberg said. “Just because someone says something now … it doesn’t make them credible.”
Avenatti said it was “outrageous” Kelly’s attorney asserts that the four accusers are lying.
The combative attorney is best known for representing porn star actress Stormy Daniels, who said she had an affair with President Trump and tried to sue him for defamation. She was one of the women who received a hush-money payment from Trump’s longtime attorney Michael Cohen.
Avenatti also represented Julie Swetnick, one of the three women who accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, referred Swetnick and Avenatti for criminal prosecution following Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, accusing the two of lying to the committee during its investigation of the allegations against the then-nominee.
A frequent Trump critic, Avenatti has also grabbed headlines for toying with a run for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, going so far as to attend party events in early states Iowa and New Hampshire before withdrawing his effort.
