Kelly was ordered to surrender nearly $28,000 in his prison inmate account to be applied towards $140,000 in unpaid criminal fines as well as possible restitution to his sexual-abuse victims.
US District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday rejected Kelly’s argument that the money had been “impermissible confiscated” from him by federal prosecutors and prison officials. She imposed the fines on Kelly in June when she sentenced the R&B singer to 30 years in prison for racketeering and sexual exploitation of minors.
Kelly, who is in federal custody in Chicago, had demanded the return of the money, which can be used to buy snacks and toiletries from the prison commissary. But Donnelly said his arguments had “no merit.”
Seizure of funds in his prison account “is an appropriate measure under the circumstances of this case, where the defendant owes unpaid fines and is also subject to mandatory restitution that has not yet been quantified,” the judge said. She gave prison officials ten days to issue a cheque to the court for more than $27,828.
Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, didn’t immediately return a voicemail message seeking comment.
