R Kelly has issued a statement regarding various stories that have been building up about the promotion of his recent US tour, and the guy who promoted it, one Leonard Rowe.
Rowe has been sued by one Milton Kenneth Peacock of Maryland who claims Rowe sold him non-existent shares in three of the dates on the Kelly tour. He says that shareholders were promised a cut of the profits from the shows they invested in, but after the event were told the shows had made a loss so there was no money to be had. This is despite reports ticket sales for the shows had been good and the tour profitable - in his lawsuit Peacock accuses Rowe of false accounting.
Kelly is also named in Peacock's lawsuit but, as concerns grow other fooled and disgruntled investors in the tour may be out there (two other lawsuits against Rowe in relation to the tour have been reported), Kelly this week moved to distance himself from the promoter, adding that he himself had been misled by Rowe, and that he is also pursuing legal action against him. Kelly adds that the promoter disappeared completely in the latter leg of the tour, but that he decided to continue with the shows even though it was increasingly unlikely he would be paid to do so.
Kelly told reporters: "I agreed to let Leonard Rowe promote my tour because he convinced me he was an underdog who deserved a chance to prove himself. Like the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished. I have complete sympathy for all of the good people who were swindled by Rowe and I will do everything I can to help them get their money back from him".