MIAMI – Singer Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, made their first appearance in Miami federal court Friday to face wire fraud charges. If convicted, both face decades in prison.
The Jamaican-born Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, 34, and his mother, 61, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud charges stemming from their involvement in a scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants through the use of fraudulent documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in press release.
Anderson and Turner each face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud.
If convicted, both face up to 20 years in prison on each count.
“According to allegations in the indictment, the defendants unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers as payment for vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants, when in fact no such bank wire or other monetary payment transfers had been executed by the purported banks, and thereafter the defendants retained or attempted to retain the vehicles, jewelry and other goods despite non-payment. Through the execution of this scheme, the defendants obtained in excess of $1 million in property,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The case against Sean Kingston
In May, Kingston and his mom were charged with conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft, and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Kingston was arrested days later at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing. He waived his right to fight the extradition and was returned to Florida.
On the same day of his arrest, Turner was taken into custody when police raided a South Florida mansion he had been renting.
The warrants in the case said that from October to March they stole almost $500,000 in jewelry, more than $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from the Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank, $86,000 from the maker of customized beds. Specifics were not given.
At the time of his arrest, Kingston was on two years’ probation for trafficking stolen property.
Turner was facing eight counts of fraud and theft. Kingston was facing the same charges plus a probation violation.
His mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over $160,000 and served nearly 1.5 years in prison, according to federal court records.
The Jamaican American performer had a No. 1 hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007 and collaborated with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie.”
Sean Kingston’s lawyer speaks out
Bob Rosenblatt, an attorney for the singer and his mom, said in early June that his client committed no crime.
“Well, I don’t know who is claiming they owe money. You know, we were aware of the watches, we are aware of the TV issue,” Rosenblatt said. “If there are other issues I’m not sure about… It’s a breach of contract. There’s no fraud here. There’s no organized fraud at all.”
Rosenblatt planed to file a not-guilty plea and ask for a jury trial. Kingston’s attorney said at the time that he was “very confident” that the singer would get the charges against him dismissed.
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Associated Press Writer Terry Spencer contributed from Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
