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District Attorney Reviewing Police File on R. Kelly After ‘Cult' Allegations

An official also addressed what he called “growing community pressure” to cancel a Kelly concert planned for Aug. 25 in Atlanta in response to the allegations.

Following allegations that R&B star R. Kelly holds women against their will in a “cult,” officials in Georgia said Friday a police file was under review but no formal investigation into the embattled celebrity had been launched.

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. says his office received a file “involving” Kelly from the Johns Creek Police Department Monday.

“We are in the process of evaluating the file. Once the evaluation is complete, we will take the appropriate action,” Howard, Jr. said. “We are not investigating Mr. Kelly; we are merely reviewing the informational file provided by the Johns Creek Police Department.”

Parents and former members of Kelly’s reported “inner circle” have accused the superstar of brainwashing women and keeping them in a “cult” where he controls their every move, according to the BuzzFeed report.

“The allegations against Mr. Kelly are false and ill-motived,” a spokesperson told the Atlanta Journal Constitution. “He again denies any and all wrongdoing.”

RCA Records did not immediately respond to NBC Chicago's request for comment. NBC has not independently verified the allegations made.

Kelly rents two houses in Duluth, about 30 miles outside of Atlanta, which is under Johns Creek police jurisdiction, according to the initial report by BuzzFeed. Kelly also stays at Trump Tower in Chicago.

Following the explosive report, Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves, who is running for mayor of Atlanta, has called on the district attorney’s office to launch a criminal investigation.

“I’m going to strongly encourage again the district attorney to investigate this matter and leave no stone unturned,” Eaves told reporters outside a county government center Friday.

Eaves said he doesn’t know the contents of the file on Kelly but believes it could be “of felony nature.”

“But it is not my role as chairman of Fulton County to know the contents of that investigation,” he said.

Eaves also addressed what he called “growing community pressure” to cancel a Kelly concert planned for Aug. 25 in Atlanta in response to the allegations.

“As of last week there were 36,000 people who had completed an online petition expressing their desire that this concert be canceled,” he said. “And I do envision that that number will grow as we get closer to the concert—it’s up to Live Nation to make a decision whether to cancel or not.”

Live Nation did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Asked by a reporter why he injected himself between the police department and the district attorney’s office, Eaves cited his role as an elected official.

“I didn’t ask for people to contact me and say ‘cancel the concert,’ a lot of folks, in an unsolicited way, contacted me and requested it,” he said. “So I feel that I’m speaking very fairly and very honestly on behalf of the people who have contacted me.”

He said there could be an update on his call for an investigation as early as next Monday.

The BuzzFeed report names three former members of Kelly’s inner circle, who both said they had sexual relationships and lived with Kelly during the past five years. The women say they live in properties rented by Kelly in Chicago and suburban Atlanta, with Kelly dictating what they eat, how they dress, when they sleep and their sexual encounters. He also allegedly confiscates their personal phones and makes them use a phone he gives them for contacting him only, unless they are given permission to call someone else.

A Cook County Sheriff’s police report obtained by NBC Chicago states officers performed a well-being check at Kelly’s Chicago music studio at the request of the parents of a Georgia singer, who told authorities their daughter was “being held against her will along with another young lady.” The woman, who authorities said had no visible injuries or markings, told officers she was “fine and did not want to be bothered with her parents because her father was threatening people.” She also said she did not know the other woman mentioned by her family.

In 2008, a Chicago jury acquitted Kelly of child pornography charges after he was accused of having sex with an underage girl and videotaping it. He has also previously been accused of marrying his manager’s teen niece, singer Aaliyah.

In a recent interview, Kelly declined to address allegations he married the then-15-year-old singer. Kelly said the two were “best friends, deep friends,” and admitted that he was in love with her “just like I was in love with anybody else.” But when it came to addressing the questions surrounding the pair’s rumored marriage, which reports claim was quickly annulled, Kelly said that, out of respect for Aaliyah's family and because of her passing, “I will never have that conversation with anyone.”

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