(BBC) Singer R. Kelly could face decades in prison when he is sentenced on Wednesday, nine months after being found guilty of running a scheme to sexually abuse women and children.
In September, a New York jury convicted the disgraced pop star of racketeering and eight counts of sex trafficking.
The 55-year-old R&B singer will spend at least 10 years in prison, with the maximum possible sentence being life.
Prosecutors have said he should spend at least 25 years behind bars.
The singer – known for the hit songs I Believe I Can Fly and Ignition (Remix) – was found to have been the ringleader of a violent and coercive scheme to lure women and children for him to sexually abuse.
The six-week trial heard how he trafficked women between different US states, assisted by managers, security guards and other entourage members, over two decades.
Prosecutors said he showed a “callous disregard” for his victims and showed no remorse.
“Indeed, the defendant’s decades of crime appear to have been fuelled by narcissism and a belief that his musical talent absolved him of any need to conform his conduct – no matter how predatory, harmful, humiliating or abusive to others – to the strictures of the law,” they said.
