Law enforcement officials in Illinois and Georgia, where Kelly has had homes, began looking into his behavior after the documentary “Surviving R. Kelly” aired on Lifetime last month. The program detailed accusations that Kelly had sex with minors and kept young women in what has been described as a sex cult, preventing them from communicating with their families and exerting control over their lives, including whom they could look in the eye and when they could use the bathroom.

Two weeks after the documentary aired, Kelly was dropped by his label, RCA Records, following intense pressure from activists in the #MuteRKelly campaign.

In a strongly worded statement on Thursday, Kelly’s lawyer, Steve Greenberg, questioned the credibility of Avenatti and CNN’s description of the video and said Kelly “denies that he has engaged in any illegal conduct, of any kind whatsoever.” He also portrayed the women who have spoken out against Kelly as being out for money: “Accuse R. Kelly and boom, make a buck.”

Building a criminal case against Kelly could be challenging, for similar reasons that bedeviled prosecutors in 2008. That case involved a 27-minute sex tape that bore some disquieting similarities to the tape described by Avenatti and CNN on Thursday. The previous video showed what prosecutors described as Kelly having sex with and urinating on an underage girl.