Sean Kingston and his mother were found guilty of wire fraud in their $1 million federal trial, facing decades in prison.
The jury deliberated for three hours today in Broward County court, reports CBS News, to find the 35-year-old singer (born Kisean Paul Anderson) and his mother, Janice Turner, guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Sentencing will take place for both on July 11.
Trouble began for Kingston in May 2024, when he and Turner were arrested on theft charges following a SWAT raid on his South Florida mansion. The raids were conducted in the wake of a lawsuit filed against Kingston for allegedly not paying for luxury items. An attorney for the individual who sued Kingston noted that he used “basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and obviously puts on a big show here, this is a rental house, he doesn’t own it, and he lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without him paying for it and then he simply never pays.”
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Two months later, Kingston and Turner were indicted in Miami federal court and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. The indictment was made in connection to a scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry and other goods purchased via fraudulent documents. At the time, the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida stated that the scheme involved making payments through banks that never actually went through, which resulted in Kingston and his mother accruing an excess of $1 million in property.
During the trial, according to NBC News, Fort Lauderdale jeweler Moshe Edery testified that he gave Kingston an Audemars Piguet watch for $285,000 and the promise of introducing him to other celebrities. In a voice memo played during the trial, Kingston can be heard saying, “I’m going to have you at all my video shoots and red carpets.” Kingston then provided Edery with a screenshot of a wire transfer, which the bank said was not authentic. Subsequently, Edery was fired from his job and blacklisted after Kingston never footed the bill.
Turner herself took the stand and admitted to falsifying wires in an effort to protect her son from scammers by delaying payments for luxury items. Kingston was slated to take the stand in the trial, but ultimately decided not to do so. One of the key pieces of evidence was a text that Kingston sent to his mother that read, “I told you to make [a] fake receipt” followed by “so it [looks] like the transfer will be there in a couple [of] days.”
Kingston is best known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100. Throughout his career, he released four albums and collaborated with artists including Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Chris Brown.