Chicago-based publicist Trevian Kutti, one of the defendants accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election results along with former President Donald Trump, surrendered at Fulton County Jail on Friday.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Kutti with violating Georgia’s anti-racketeering law, influencing a witness and conspiring to solicit false statements.
Kutti’s charges stem from a 2021 encounter with Georgia election worker Ruby Freeman. She visited the home of Freeman, who was besieged with death threats from Trump supporters after being falsely accused of rigging the election in favor of eventual President Joe Biden with fake ballots.
Kutti came to Freeman’s home, saying that a “high-profile” individual sent her to have the election worker confess to Trump’s voter fraud charges or go to jail. Kutti, the sixth defendant to surrender Friday, was released on $75,000 bond.
Here are six things you should know about Kutti, whose Instagram account describes her as an “Equal Opportunity Capitalist” and “Media Manipulator.”
She Hails from Omaha, Nebraska
Kutti is from a large family in North Omaha and attended Central High School in the late 1980s, where she played basketball, served in student government and sang in the choir, according to the Omaha World-Herald. Kutti also won an oratory contest sponsored by the local NAACP chapter, where she earned an expense-paid trip to a national competition in New York.
She Used to be a Publicist for R. Kelly
Kutti was a publicist for disgraced R&B star R. Kelly until 2018. R. Kelly is serving simultaneous sentences of 20 and 30 years at a federal medium security prison in North Carolina on child sex convictions.
According to a LinkedIn profile under her name, Kutti reportedly served as Director of Celebrity and Media Relations for R Kelly from July 2017 to April 18.
Under that job heading, the descriptor said she “Handled all PR inquires (sic) regarding crisis management and image liability diffusion. Worked daily with A-list celebrities, record labels, recording studios, and video producers. Governed tour management.”
When contacted by The New York Times for a 2018 article on the singer, Kutti told the publication she was no longer affiliated with Kelly, citing “unfortunate circumstances.”
“I am no longer successfully able to represent Mr. Robert Kelly,” she told the Times in an email. “Mr. Kelly is ‘The World’s Greatest.’ I am grateful to have had the experience of representing him.”
She Reportedly Served as Kanye West’s Publicist, but the Details Are Few
Kutti worked at the Women’s Global Initiative, where her bio listed her as a member of the “Young Black Leadership Council under President Donald Trump, according to a Reuters report. That bio listed that in September 2018, Kutti “was secured as a publicist to Kanye West” and “now serves as West’s Director of Operations.”
Yet in the aftermath of her encounter with Freeman, a spokesperson for Kanye West reached out to Reuters and said that Kutti was not associated with the rap star when she met with the election worker.
“Trevian Kutti was not associated with Kanye West or any of his enterprises at the times of the facts that are reported in these articles or since these facts occurred.”
She Was a Celebrity Stylist to Oscar-winning Actress Regina King
According to her LinkedIn profile, Kutti served as King’s stylist from January 2015 to November 2017. Under that job heading, she states, “Handled all image strategy for major award shows including The Golden Globes, Emmys, People’s Choice Awards, SAG awards, all press circuits, media, editorial and other necessary deemed. Best dressed list consistency. Worked with all major designers and designer showrooms, networks and media outlets to create concepts conducive to image excellence.”
She Has a Connection to Championship Boxer Terence Crawford
Like Kutti, Crawford is also from Omaha, Nebraska. In her LinkedIn profile, she is listed as Crawford’s “Director of Celebrity and Media Relations.” The extent of her work with Crawford is not known.
She and Her Husband Had a Chicago Business That Stirred Up Controversy
Kutti and her husband operated a high-end fashion boutique on the Gold Coast that sold items such as “Italian stilettos with four-figure price tags.” Their store was just as known for its window displays. There’s this account from a 2006 New York Times article:
Before the 2004 presidential election, the storefront was filled with dismembered mannequins spattered in fake blood under an Iraqi flag and little signs saying “Oil” with the headline “Vote World Peace.” For Black History Month 2004, there were two mannequins, one draped in white, the other in bright fabrics, under “Whites Only” and “Colored Only” signs. They one-upped that last year, placing a poster-size swastika, a Klansman’s portrait and a picture of the burning World Trade Center behind the words “Never Again.”
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