R Kelly 'offered woman $250,000 for sex tape'

4 June 2008 

R KELLY has been accused of offering a woman $250,000 (£125,000) to potentially cover-up damning footage of him having sex with an underage girl.
 
The troubled R&B star stands accused of videotaping himself having sex with a 13-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts of child pornography.
 
On Monday (2Jun08), Lisa Van Allen told jurors she first had sex with Kelly and the alleged victim in front of a camera in 1998.
 
Van Allen claims the incident took place in the same Illinois home where prosecutors say the sex tape at the centre of the case also was made.
 
She told jurors she cried throughout a second sexual encounter in 1999 with Kelly and the alleged victim, whom she believed to be 16.
 
In her testimony, Van Allen claims Kelly last year (07) offered her the money to recover a tape of one of his sexual encounters. She claims she was later given just $20,000 (£10,000) after one of Kelly's associates collected the tape from a hotel in Chicago.
 
Van Allen also testified that Kelly carried a duffel bag containing his homemade sex tapes everywhere he went.
 
She told the court, "Wherever he was at, the bag would follow him." However, defence attorneys accused her of trying to extort the singer. They will open their case on Wednesday (4Jun08).