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In Touch Weekly
R. Kelly’s Private Information Was Leaked by Prison Employee, Government Admits in Bombshell Lawsuit
By Ryan Naumann,
2024-08-06
Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images
The U.S. Government fired back at R. Kelly’s lawsuit over prison workers allegedly accessing his private emails and call logs, In Touch can exclusively report.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, lawyers representing the government asked that Kelly’s 2023 lawsuit, where he claimed prison employees used the internal prison system to assess his emails, visitor and phone logs, be tossed.
The government denied it breached its duty of care to Kelly.
The response admitted there was an Inspector General investigation into the unauthorized access of Kelly’s sensitive information.
The response said the officer Kelly named in his complaint was investigated but no charges were ever brought. In 2019, The Chicago Sun Times reported the prison employee in question had recently retired.
The government seemingly admitted that an investigation found a prison worker did provide blogger Tasha K with information that was accessed from the internal system.
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The lawyer argued for the case to be dismissed. He said, “The United States is not subject to institutional liability stemming from allegedly widespread negligent practices or policies.”
In Kelly’s suit, his lawyer said, “The Defendant United States of America breached its duty of care to [Kelly] when it allowed countless BOP officers to access [Kelly’s] confidential information without any legal basis to do so. 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.”
“Because of the United States of America’s breach, at least 60 [prison] officers made unauthorized access to [Kelly’s] sensitive, confidential, and private information maintained by the BOP on its electronic system known as TruView,” Kelly’s lawyer claimed.
In the suit, Kelly said he believed the officers sold the information to Tasha K, who then posted it on her blog. Tasha K denied the claims she had anything to do with illegal activity on her Instagram.
His lawyer said Tasha K, “rallied her massive following to harass [Kelly] with the use of the stolen information and created chaos in [Kelly’s] personal life, even using the information to influence witnesses in [Kelly’s] EDNY criminal prosecution. On information and belief, the stolen information was shared with and used by prosecutors from United States Attorney’s Office as a tool to influence witnesses against [Kelly].”
Now, the United States Government has demanded the case be tossed.
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Kelly was arrested in July 2019 on a 13-count indictment filed in Illinois.
He was hit with a separate criminal case over similar charges in New York.
The singer was sentenced to 20 years in the Chicago case and 30 years in the New York case.
“Robert Kelly used his power and fame for evil when he exploited children for his own gratification,” Sean Fitzgerald, special agent in charge of HSI Chicago, said following the sentence. “We are confident that Kelly’s sentence will empower victims who are facing similar circumstances to come forward knowing they will be supported. HSI, alongside its partners from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Chicago Police Department, and IRS Criminal Investigation, will do everything in our power to ensure perpetrators like Kelly face justice.”
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