A former girlfriend of R. Kelly sobbed in a federal courtroom Thursday as she testified that Kelly's business manager told her they should have killed her instead of paying her to return a videotape of Kelly having sex with her.
The disgraced R&B star and two associates are accused of conspiring to pay off witnesses and buy back sex tapes to hide their crimes.
Van Allen testified that she had sex with Kelly and his goddaughter at the singer's direction in the late 1990s. She said that Kelly offered her $250,000 to get the tapes back after she took one of the tapes.
Van Allen broke down in tears as she described how she was threatened at a lawyer's office after failing a polygraph test.
They should have killed her because he said that she failed the test and that they should have resisted.
She made a false statement to a lawyer denying she ever had sexual contact with Kelly's goddaughter.
She said that he told her to say it, but she was afraid to do it. I didn't know they were considering killing me.
Van Allen said she would inform Kelly about the comment. She said that he told her that Rob was aware of what was happening.
McDavid pursed his lips and looked at Kelly, who was sitting behind him, as he shook his head slowly.
Beau Brindley, an attorney for McDavid, confronted Van Allen about her claim that she was threatened, pointing out that she was Kelly's business manager and suggesting it was a lie.
There was no reason to believe that he was a murderer. The person said, "Brinley said."
She didn't destroy the sex tape after she stole it, so why did she want people to not see it?
She said that if that thought had crossed her mind she would have done something about it. She said she didn't take the tape because she wanted to get Kelly to give her money.
Van Allen actually turned over a tape of herself having a threesome with Kelly and his wife, rather than a tape of Kelly having sex with her. Van Allen did not deny that.
Van Allen is said to be a serial liar.
A person who feigns emotion while lying to try to manipulate others should not be trusted. "Brinley, what do you think?" She didn't know what he was talking about.
Van Allen has always said she was 17 when she met Kelly. She testified on Thursday that she now knows that she was 18 at the time.
She was accused of lying about being under the age of 18.
He said, that you wanted to be a victim. It's to sell books.
There was a lot of reaction in the courtroom after the allegation was made. Van Allen shook her head as she testified.
Over the years, Van Allen has made different statements about the tape. Van Allen began to cry when he asked her about her testimony to a federal grand jury.
There was nothing particularly sad about asking her about her grand jury testimony. That's right, yes! She said she was tired of being asked if she watched child pornography. Brindley didn't like what he saw.
Prosecutors objected to the questioning at least two times. Judge Harry Leinenweber told him to hurry.
Jurors were shown a clip from the "Surviving R. Kelly" docuseries to illustrate his points. Van Allen was testifying in front of the Chicago skyline as the screens stayed frozen on an establishing shot.
Many of the jurors took notes and rested their notebooks on the bench in front of them while listening to Van Allen testify.
Fourteen years ago, Van Allen was a controversial witness at Kelly's first criminal trial in Cook County. Van Allen was giving testimony under immunity.
Van Allen said she met Kelly's goddaughter. Kelly told Van Allen that Jane was 16 at the time.
The three of them had three sexual encounters over the course of three years. Van Allen used her hands to mimic Kelly's setup of the tripod and video camera.
She began her testimony. Van Allen was calm but a bit nervous as she paused to sip from a water bottle. Her face became somber when she discussed the sexual contact with Jane.
Van Allen cried when she didn't want to participate in the filmed threesome in 1999.
Kelly asked what he would do with it. It wouldn't have been good to see me crying.
Van Allen said that an encounter in 2000 was disrupted by Kelly's team. He did not make a request for Jane to hide in the bathroom.
Jane told Van Allen that she was going to get a car for her 16th birthday. Van Allen was upset because she thought Jane was 16 years old when they had sex.
Van Allen didn't want to do any more threesomes after that. I didn't want to do the first one, but I definitely didn't want any more. She was 14 years old at the time. She had to be at least 13 years old.
Van Allen said that Kelly had sex tapes with him. She went looking for tapes around 2000 when she realized she was alone with that bag.
She didn't want him to have them. I didn't want him to look at them or have them in his possession
She said that she gave the tape to her friend.
She was concerned when she heard there might be copies of the tapes for sale. She believed that Kelly would help her get it back.
She said that he had an upcoming trial for a similar tape and that it said how old she was.
Kelly got in a hot tub with Van Allen at his house and offered to give him $250,000 to get the tapes back. She testified that he told her to deal with him.
She said that they took a series of polygraph tests after that. She said that Van Allen was told they would get the rest after Kelly's trial.
He commented about how they should have killed her after she failed the third polygraph.
Van Allen said she met Kelly when she was 18. She traveled to Chicago to meet him after she met him at the video shoot.
She started a romantic relationship with Kelly after moving to Chicago. Kelly made her miss her flights.
She said she would get fired if she kept missing her flights. I told him what I made. The man gave me the cash.
She testified that Kelly would direct her on what to do and what to say during their sexual encounters and would often videotape them having sex.
She said that Kelly did not allow her to speak to other men in his presence. She said he was going to hit her if she didn't listen to him.
Kelly is accused of 13 counts of production of child pornography and conspiracy to produce child pornography. According to the indictment, the two men schemed to buy back incriminating sex tapes that had been taken from Kelly's collection and hide years of alleged sexual abuse of young girls.
Jane, who testified last week that Kelly videotaped sexual encounters with her when she was just 14, is one of 14 other witnesses who have so far testified. The jury was shown the clips on Friday.
In the early 2000s, Kelly and his associates agreed to pay a Kansas City merchandiser up to a million dollars to find other incriminating videos before they were made public, according to a key prosecution witness.
jmeisner is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
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