(AllHipHop News) Legal documents obtained by AllHipHop.com show that R&B singer R. Kelly was involved in a court case with his ex-wife Andrea Kelly over child support. A notarized subpoena filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois was sent by Ms. Kelly’s attorney to the performance rights organization SESAC, Inc.
The doc dated October 30, 2013 commanded the company to provide information about R. Kelly’s royalty income, licensing agreements, and assets to Andrea’s lawyer Robert M. Motta of Motta & Motta, LLC.
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R. Kelly has maintained that he does not owe any child support to his ex-wife. A rep for the singer told AllHipHop last week, “Mr. Kelly is current on his child support payments.”
Ms. Kelly’s attorney Alison Motta of Motta & Motta LLC has confirmed with AllHipHop.com that R. Kelly was recently in arrears with his child support and that the subpoena was filed by her firm in response to a court case. Despite media reports, Ms. Motta also confirmed that Andrea hired Bounty Alert/Project Child Support to assist her in recovering those funds.
Kai D. Patterson, President & CEO of Bounty Alert addressed his organization’s involvement in the Kellys’ child support case with AllHipHop.com via e-mail.
“We were asked to provide Ms. Kelly our program at no upfront cost and told that Andrea Kelly had mismanaged her earnings she received from VH1’s#### reality series, Hollywood Exes,” wrote Patterson. “Although she did not meet the criteria for receiving our services at on upfront fee, we provided the program at no upfront cost as a courtesy to Andrea Kelly’s attorney, since her attorney represented Ms. Kelly could not afford the initial payment of $350.”
Motta refutes Patterson’s claim that Andrea was unable to afford the costs of PCS stating, “Obviously, she was having financial difficulties because of the child support situation, but it was a stretch to define her as indigent.”
Bounty Alert alleges to have received documents and statements showing that R. Kelly was several months behind in child support payments at the time Ms. Kelly contracted the services of Project Child Support. PCS issued a press release days after R. Kelly released his latest album Black Panties claiming the group provided a report to Andrea Kelly’s attorneys showing the singer owed approximately $114,900 in unpaid child support.
According to Motta, the statement was released after Motta & Motta informed Bounty Alert on November 18th that R. Kelly had paid off his child support debts.
“We, nor Andrea, ever denied hiring them. We just denied that R. Kelly owed $115,000,” says Motta. “We sent an e-mail advising them not to do anything, because Mr. Kelly had paid his child support.”
Patterson contends that Bounty Alert/PCS received the first notification that R. Kelly’s arrears were paid at 5:57 PM EST on Friday, December 13 after their press release was published. He adds that according to statements provided by Motta, it was only after Project Child Support was contracted by Ms. Kelly that Mr. Kelly paid his overdue child support payments.
“It is public knowledge that Project Child Support takes extra measures to collect unpaid child support, which we believe was leveraged in the negotiations that caused Mr. Kelly to pay after we were contracted,” states Patterson.
“That’s inaccurate. They’re just trying to cover their a####,” says Motta. “No one on the other side, Mr. Kelly or his attorneys, knew that we hired Bounty Alert.”
Motta maintains that the subpoena and the court case were sealed, and they were not meant to be seen by the public. Her firm and Ms. Kelly are considering what steps to take against Bounty Alert who they believe released the documents. (editor’s note: AllHipHop.com does not confirm nor deny that Kai D. Patterson, Bounty Alert, or Project Child Support were the source for the court documents.)
“I don’t know what makes them think that releasing the private information of Ms. Kelly is good for business,” says Motta. “We are coming up with a plan to counteract Bounty Alert.”
AllHipHop.com contacted representatives of R. Kelly and SESAC. They both declined to comment on this story.
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