She once accused him of sabotaging her career and taking every penny she owned. But soul singer Melba Moore says she’ll stand by her shady ex-husband as he faces 20 years in federal prison.
Music producer Charles Huggins, 67, was arrested last year for allegedly running a $5 million Ponzi scheme that promised Hollywood investors large returns from diamonds and gold mined in West Africa.
His trial was set to begin Monday. However, after being informed Friday that a co-defendant would become a prosecution witness, Huggins’ lawyer may seek a delay.
Now Moore, who says she was tortured by Huggins for decades, is rushing to his side. In an exclusive interview, the Tony Award-winning songstress said she’s forgiven him.
“I know the time he’s facing will be a death sentence,” said Moore, 67. “So hopefully I can help him through this. Everyone deserves a chance.”
Huggins, of Edgewater, NJ, was cuffed after one of his victims — which include NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith and comedian Steve Harvey — called the FBI.
The jewels Huggins allegedly promised were blood diamonds, which originate from war zones and are sold on the black market to fund warlords and rebels in Africa’s devastating conflicts.
Instead of mining for the riches, Huggins and two accomplices pocketed most of the money or used it to pay earlier investors in a scheme that ran from 2008 to 2011, according to the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office.
The feds said Huggins used the money to fund a record label and other ventures.
“The promise of riches mined in Africa was fool’s gold that [Huggins] allegedly dangled in front of investors in what was nothing more than a scam,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said shortly after Huggins’ arrest.
Nicola Murphy, a spokeswoman for Smith, declined to comment, and messages left for Harvey were not returned.
During nasty divorce and custody proceedings, which lasted several years in the 1990s, Moore accused Huggins of “economic spousal abuse.”
“I had to go on welfare, I had a career and I lost that. I had a daughter and lost her,” Moore told The Post. The couple’s daughter, Charli, went to live with family friend Bill Cosby during the ugly proceedings.
“Charles took everything, but I had to start all over again, and I did,” Moore said.
But now, Moore said, that’s all in the past and her devotion to Huggins is proving to be an undying one.
“Charles is in a place in his life now that he needs me, and I’m probably the closest person to him right now,” she added. “We can’t live in the past. I’m there for him now.”
Melba and her daughter are living together again in Edgewater, and Huggins has a home in the same gated community, only steps away. The family regularly attends service at the First Corinthian Baptist Church on 116th Street in Harlem.
“Every single Sunday, you can see the three of them there together as if nothing ever happened,” a source said. “They’re one big happy family.”
Huggins is famous for Charles’ Gallery, a nightclub in The Bronx that featured some of the top disco acts of the 1970s, and later Small’s Paradise, a blues, jazz and R&B club in Harlem, where he and Moore would wine and dine pals such as Stephanie Mills, Freddie Jackson, Cosby and Stevie Wonder.
Huggins and his brother also formed Bush Burnin’ Music, a publishing company that housed the catalogues of Moore and other artists.
Moore was already a star when she met Huggins, but she credits him with guiding her career to new heights. With Huggins, she created some of her biggest hits, including “Lean on Me” and “You Stepped Into My Life.”
Still, the Harlem-born singer — who debuted with the original Broadway cast of “Hair” — admits it was Huggins who brought her to incredible lows because of his jealousy.
“He had me blackballed from the industry with people thinking I was a drug addict, and he physically assaulted me,” Moore alleged. And when he divorced her in 1991, after two decades of marriage, “he had a woman already in place. I was blindsided and very hurt.
Huggins admits to cheating on Moore, but denies that he assaulted her or took her money, saying that he always treated her kindly and that’s why she’s standing by him now. “I may cheat, but I don’t beat,” he said.
“I know that Charles did all of those horrible things to me,” Moore said. “But what I choose to focus on now is the Charles that helped guide my career and teach me the ropes.”