R Kelly Has $28,000 in His Prison-Inmate Account. Prosecutors Want to Seize It.

R Kelly attends court in Chicago in 2019.Photographer: Antonio Perez/Pool/Getty Images

Prosecutors have asked a federal court to seize more than $28,000 that R Kelly has in his prison inmate account, noting that the R&B singer hasn’t paid $140,000 in court-ordered fines.

In a letter Thursday, the government said it was informed by the Bureau of Prisons “that the defendant had accumulated substantial funds in his inmate trust account,” which can be used to buy food and items at the prison commissary. As of Aug. 3, the amount was $28,328.24. The Bureau of Prisons has restrained the funds at the government’s request, leaving just $500 in his account.

Kelly was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison for sex-trafficking by a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn told the court that to date, Kelly hasn’t paid any of the criminal penalties imposed. They are asking the judge to put the money into an interest-bearing account “pending a determination as to the amount and applicability of a restitution judgment.”

Jennifer Bonjean, a lawyer for Kelly, didn’t immediately return a voicemail message seeking comment about the government’s request.