On Wednesday (October 2), a New York City judge denied Robert Kelly bail, citing the potential for witness tampering and flight, The Washington Post reports. The accused sexual predator was previously denied bond back in July for two cases he has pending in Illinois and New York.

The singer, 52, was reportedly absent from the hearing in Brooklyn because he is under lock and key in Chicago ahead of a trial scheduled to begin there on April 27, 2020.

According to The Post, in court papers filed on Monday (September 30), Kelly’s attorneys said he didn’t have enough money to flee. But Richard P. Donoghue, the United States attorney for the eastern district of New York, wrote to judge Ann M. Donnelly that Kelly threatened “to release compromising and potentially embarrassing photographs of Jane Doe #5 if she pursued her civil lawsuit against [him],” reiterating that Kelly was poised to obstruct justice, even if he couldn’t afford to leave the country.

The New York trial date was set for May 18, 2020.