An advisor close to convicted sex trafficker R. Kelly pleaded guilty to harassing and intimidating one of the ex-R&B singer’s victims, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Chicago native Donnell Russell, the self-described manager for Kelly, pleaded guilty to interstate stalking in Brooklyn federal court after he was accused of threatening to reveal sexually explicit photos of the victim, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Russell warned the victim he would publicly reveal her sexual history if she did not withdraw a civil lawsuit she filed against Kelly, prosecutors said. He demanded she “cease her participation and association with organizers” of a “negative campaign” against the “I Believe I Can Fly” singer.
Kelly, whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was convicted in September 2021 for sexually abusing women and underage girls and boys over the course of decades.
Russell’s guilty plea is only the latest legal trouble for the Kelly loyalist.
On Friday, he was found guilty of threatening harm by interstate communication after he called in an active-shooter threat to a private Manhattan club showing a screening of the Lifetime docuseries “Surviving R. Kelly” in 2018.
US Attorney Breon Peace slammed Russell in a statement Monday for using “threats, harassment and intimidation in a deliberate effort to silence one of R. Kelly’s victims and prevent her voice from being heard.”
“When his initial effort failed, he continued his vile campaign by sending threatening messages to Jane Doe and her mother, and publishing explicit photos of the victim on the internet before and after Kelly was indicted.
“As this prosecution makes clear, the defendant’s conduct was not only reprehensible, but it was also criminal and will not be tolerated.”
Federal prosecutors outline how Russell cruelly harassed the victim and people close to her from November 2018 to February 2020.
In November 2018, Russell helped send a letter with attachments purportedly written by Kelly to the victim’s Brooklyn lawyer that included cropped nude photos of the victim, the feds said. The text in the letter stated, “the next two pictures have been cropped for the sake of not exposing her extremities to the world, yet!!!”
The following month, Russell, using the alias, Colon Dunn, sent a blitz of texts to the victim and her mother with the same nude photos, stating “Just a sample. We will seek criminal charges. You’ve been warned,” and “Publishing soon.”
He also texted “[T]his is Colon.”
At the start of 2019, he again texted the victim and her mother, “Pull the plug or you will be exposed.”
Also in January 2019, he began a Facebook page intended to defend Kelly and posted text exchanges between Kelly and the victim with the same sexually explicit pics, prosecutors said. The Facebook page was “Surviving Lies,” which was a play on the “Surviving R. Kelly” series.
And then in January 2020, he again showed the sexually explicit photos during live interviews with vloggers over YouTube who supported Kelly amid his mounting legal troubles.
He could face five years in prison.
