Report: R. Kelly charged with felony sexual abuse, warrant expected to be issued for his arrest – WPTV.com

An indictment has been handed down against musician R. Kelly by the Cook County State’s Attorney office, two sources with knowledge of the development tell CNN.

State’s Attorney Kim Foxx will announce charges against Kelly at a news conference at 3 p.m. ET, according to a release from her office.

CNN is working to obtain the indictment.

A grand jury

was convened in Cook County, Illinois,

earlier this month in connection with new allegations against Kelly, two sources close to the case told CNN.

That came on the heels of attorney Michael Avenatti announcing

he had handed over to the State’s Attorney’s Office a videotape

that he said showed Kelly having sex with an underage girl.

Steve Greenberg, an attorney for Kelly, told CNN earlier this month he had not been notified of a grand jury. After being asked about the new tape, he said separately he and his colleagues were unaware of any new information involving Kelly.

CNN has seen the VHS tape that appears to show Kelly having sex with a girl who refers to her body parts as 14 years old.

The newly unearthed footage, which lasts 42 minutes and 45 seconds, is clear and explicit.

What is on the video mirrors some of the alleged acts for which Kelly was arrested in a child pornography case in 2002 when he was 35 and then acquitted six years later.

Kelly has been

associated with accusations of abuse, manipulation and inappropriate encounters with girls and young women

for more than two decades.

He has been sued by multiple women accusing him of having sex with them when they were underage. He has denied the accusations, and most cases, with the exception of the trial where he was acquitted, have been settled out of court.

And while he is one of the most successful R&B acts in history, there has been a growing movement against him, including the #MuteRKelly campaign to stop his music being played.

In July 2017, BuzzFeed published an explosive article outlining allegations that Kelly was holding a group of adult women against their will as part of what some of their parents said was a “cult.”

Joycelyn Savage, one of the young women,

denied those claims and asked her parents

, via a video shared with TMZ, to stop speaking out about her relationship with Kelly.

In January, the release of a docuseries called “Surviving R. Kelly” on Lifetime television helped boost the public campaign against him.

In that series, women said they were kept in abusive sexual relationships.