Ex
A former employee of R&B singer R. Kelly said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday that the singer beat him during a dispute at Kelly's home in February and cheated him out of songwriting royalties.
Henry Vaughn and other individuals were invited by childhood friend Robert Kelly to watch a basketball game at the singer/songwriter's Olympia Fields home in February. Before long, Vaughn, who goes by the name ?Henry Love,? was shown no love by Kelly, who ended up assaulting Vaughn, according to the lawsuit. The situation got out of hand, according to Vaughn, when Kelly along with other individuals dragged the plaintiff to the basement where Kelly struck him ?about the face and body with his fists.?
The suit claims Vaughn ?sustained severe, permanent and painful injuries and incurred medical bills.? The suit also accuses the singer of reneging on a verbal contract regarding a song and video on which Vaughn claims he was a collaborator.
A spokesman for Kelly fired back on Wednesday, calling Vaughn a "hanger-on" who was trying to extort money from Kelly. Kelly has written more than 2,000 songs without ever using a co-writer, according to a statement released by Allan Mayer.
Vaughn's "lawsuit is a pathetic collection of half-truths, distortions, and outright lies," the statement said. "To suggest that he needed Mr. Vaughn's help to write a song?or that he offered him any portion of his songwriting royalties?is ludicrous."
Police already investigated the assault allegations and found "there was nothing to them," the statement said.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for assault, false imprisonment, breach of contract and other claims.
Kelly, a Grammy Award winner, is awaiting trial on child-pornography charges for allegedly making a video showing himself having sex with a14-year-old girl. He has pleaded not guilty.