Singer R Kelly may be ordered to pay over $300,000 to one of the victims of his elaborate scheme to exploit young aspiring singers and underage children sexually.

A restitution order by U.S. District Judge Ann Connelly, still being finalised, is intended to cover the cost of treatment for the individual’s herpes and psychotherapy.

The victim, who remains anonymous, has accused the singer of giving her the sexually transmitted disease during one of their encounters.

Kelly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in June after being convicted on multiple counts of racketeering relating to bribery and forced labour by a jury in 2021.

Earlier this month, he was convicted of several child pornography and sex abuse charges in his hometown of Chicago.

The Grammy winner was found guilty of three counts of child pornography and three counts of child enticement.

But the jury acquitted him on a fourth pornography count and a conspiracy to obstruct justice charge, accusing him of fixing his state child pornography trial in 2008.

He appeared at a hearing at a federal court in Brooklyn via videolink from prison in Chicago.

At his sentencing, Kelly was branded “the pied piper of R&B” as he met several victims who detailed his “deplorable and inexplicable” abuse, which took place over decades.

The singer, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, is known for songs, including his first number one single Bump N’ Grind and 1996 hit I Believe I Can Fly.

The latter became an inspirational anthem played at school graduations, weddings, in advertisements and elsewhere, including at the inauguration of former U.S. president Barack Obama in 2008.

(dpa/NAN)