The Celebrity Truth

R&B singer R Kelly announced on Thursday (April 17) that he’s suing a concert promoter for selling non-existent shares in his recent tour.

The singer alleges in a statement that Leonard Rowe, whose company Rowe Entertainment promoted the tour, started a scheme whereby "unwary investors were promised half the profits from three Kelly concerts in late December and early January, in return for a cash investment of $440,000."

Kelly continues, "After the concerts, the investors were allegedly presented with what was described as a false accounting showing that the concerts had lost money, as a result of which there were no profits to be paid out."

Kelly, who states he knew nothing about the scam, has also previously initiated another lawsuit in February against Rowe for "failing to pay Kelly several million dollars in tour proceeds he was owed." 

"I agreed to let Leonard Rowe promote my tour because he convinced me he was an underdog who deserved a chance to prove himself," Kelly explains in the statement.

"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."

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Photo courtesy of Jive Records.