If R. Kelly was hoping a GoFundMe campaign was going to help him pay for his skyrocketing legal bills, it looks like he’ll have to think again.
GoFundMe confirms it has shut down several campaigns launched by Kelly’s fans. They were hoping to help fund his legal defense against multiple allegations of having sex with minors. R. Kelly denies all the allegations.
“These campaigns violate GoFundMe’s terms of service and they’ve been removed from the platform,” said GoFundMe spokeswoman Jenny Perillo. “I can confirm that our terms of service prohibit raising money on GoFundMe for the legal defense of a violent crime.”
Kelly, once one of the world’s top recording artists, was charged Friday in an Illinois court with 10 counts of ”aggravated criminal sexual abuse,” relating to alleged sex with minors. The R&B artist denies the charges.
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Kelly, who once had a fortune estimated by some to be as much as $150 million, says he is now broke, and he only made bail after an unknown friend put up $100,000. When he was released from jail on Monday, Kelly went for a celebratory meal at McDonald’s MCD, +0.10%
GoFundMe’s fine print says the crowdfunding site cannot be used for “campaigns we deem, in our sole discretion, to be in support of, or for the legal defense of alleged crimes associated with hate, violence, harassment, bullying, discrimination, terrorism, or intolerance of any kind relating to race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender or gender identity, or serious disabilities or diseases.”
Critics might say that covers a lot of ground. Some would argue a campaign “in support of” hate crimes is not the same as a campaign for the legal defense of someone accused of them. Of course, GoFundMe is a private corporation and is under no legal obligation to help anyone raise any money for anything.
Daryl Hatton, CEO of crowdfunding rival ConnectionPoint, notes that crowdfunding companies can’t raise money to pay for someone’s bail. “Raising money for bail is prohibited by the payment processors and the credit-card companies,” he says. “As crowdfunding platforms we have to comply with these prohibitions.” (The prohibition apparently doesn’t apply to nonprofit groups and companies like Facebook FB, -0.80% which hosted campaigns to raise bail money for immigrant families detained at the border last summer.)
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GoFundMe has a variety of rules regarding who can raise money for what on its site. Most of the forbidden activities are not controversial. You can’t launch GoFundMe campaigns for anything illegal. You can’t use it for ransom. You can’t use it to sell counterfeit goods. You can’t use it to finance political campaigns or sell unregulated financial products. You can’t use it for fraud.
But legal defenses are, well, legal. Indeed they are guaranteed by the constitution, even in the case of violent crimes, and heinous crimes, such as alleged sex with minors.
At the moment there are GoFundMe campaigns on behalf of Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, “justice for Jussie” Smollett, and for Paul Manafort. (Money raised for Manafort so far: $5.) None are accused of violent crimes, but all are accused of serious offenses.
One awkward question raised by GoFundMe’s policies is what would happen if a poor, unknown person — someone without fame or rich friends — found themselves wrongly accused of a violent crime. Under the company’s rules, as applied in the case of Kelly, it would seem that they, too, might be unable to raise defense funds on the platform.
The paradox is that if R. Kelly had used GoFundMe to pay his legal bills during his battles with the Internal Revenue Service, he might now have some money to pay for his legal defense against charges of sex with minors. GoFundMe rules say nothing about legal defense funds for fighting the IRS.
Meanwhile rival GoGetFunding says its doors are open. “We have hosted a number of legal defense campaigns on our site — including those for murder, serious crimes, controversial political cases and more,” says a spokeswoman.
She added, “I have already spoken with the CEO, who is in agreement that we would allow such a campaign as we are an impartial site that allows those facing legal costs the opportunity to raise funds from their family, friends and supporters in order to ensure they are able to employ the best legal defense they can afford — as is their absolute right.”
“We are not a legal platform and therefore will never act as judge and jury for any defendant who chooses to use our site,” she said. “That will be for the court system to determine. Our role is to ensure those facing legal costs have the chance to be represented fairly and adequately.”
How much a campaign for R. Kelly might raise is another matter.
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