R&B singer R. Kelly pleaded not guilty Friday morning to racketeering and related charges, as he appeared for the first time in Brooklyn federal court to face allegations that he had orchestrated an illegal sex ring involving young women and girls.

Attorneys for the recording artist, meanwhile, asked U.S. Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York later in the day to reconsider a magistrate judge’s decision to deny their client’s application for bail, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.