R. Kelly sues U.S. prison officials for leaking his information
Convicted sex offender and R&B artist, R. Kelly filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons and YouTube personality Tasha K.
According to the 28-page complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Chicago, a copy of which was obtained by HuffPost, R. Kelly says that dozens of Prison Bureau officers unlawfully accessed his information. He is accusing a former prison officer of sharing his prison records with a woman known as Tasha K, who runs a popular celebrity gossip YouTube channel, “UnWinewithTashaK,” that has over 1 million subscribers.
The 56-year-old singer is claiming negligence, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress, among other violations.
The suit claims that a “secret” investigation by the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General found that “at least 60 BOP officers made unauthorized access to plaintiff’s sensitive, confidential, and private information maintained by the BOP.”
It adds that one officer, identified as Officer A, illegally accessed Kelly’s records — including email correspondence, phone calls and guest visits — more than 150 times and emailed some of the records to herself before providing them to Tasha K (Latasha Kebe). The complaint says that Officer A violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Tasha K posted the information to her YouTube channel with the title “R. Kelly Can’t Control His Girlfriends While Behind Bars.” She shared with her viewers phone call information between Kelly and women, as well as visitor logs and email communications, the lawsuit says.
Kelly’s attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, told ABC7 Chicago that the officers’ alleged violations have affected the way Kelly communicates with others.
“He had every right to be able to be confident, to think the BOP would protect his information and not exploit, but unfortunately, certain BOP officers did just that,” Bonjean said. “He does not feel comfortable to this day talking to anyone, even his own lawyers, because of the impact of this event.”
Kelly’s attorneys said in a statement to HuffPost that the lawsuit was necessary to get justice for Kelly since the Department of Justice investigation did not lead to charges against those involved in the alleged misconduct.
Kelly is currently serving a 20-year sentence out-of-state for producing child pornography and enticing a minor in sexual activity.
He is appealing that conviction as well as a conviction in New York for sex trafficking and racketeering.
