Miami grand jury indicts singer Sean Kingston and his mother for $1 million wire fraud

MIAMI – After a grand jury indicted singer Sean Kingston and his mother, they appeared for the first time in federal court in Miami on Friday to answer Charged with wire fraudFederal prosecutors said that if convicted, they could face decades in prison.

Kingston, 34, a Jamaican native whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud, stemming from their involvement in a scheme to defraud sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry and other goods acquired using forged documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a news release.

Kingston and Turner are each charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud.

If convicted, both face up to 20 years in prison for each charge.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Kingston and his mother “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely claiming to have paid for the purchase of vehicles, jewelry and other goods by wire transfer or other means.”

When federal authorities verified the authenticity of the money transfers, they found that “no such wire transfers or other money transfers had been made by the purported banks.”

In total, Kinston and his mother retained assets worth more than $1 million that they did not fully pay off, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The case against Sean Kingston

In May, Kingston and his mother were charged with carrying out a organized fraud schemegrand larceny, identity theft and related offenses, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office warrants.

Kingston was arrested on May 23 at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert, where he was performing. He waived his right to fight extradition and was sent back to Florida.

Turner was also taken into custody on the same day. Police searched a mansion in South Florida her son had lived in rented accommodation.

The arrest warrants in the case say they stole nearly $500,000 worth of jewelry, more than $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from an Escalade dealership, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank and $86,000 from a custom bed manufacturer from October 2023 to March of this year. No further details were provided.

At the time of his arrest, Kingston was serving a two-year suspended sentence for receiving stolen goods.

Turner pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud and stealing more than $160,000, according to federal court records, and served nearly a year and a half in prison.

The Jamaican-American artist had a number one hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007 and collaborated with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie”.

Sean Kingston’s lawyer speaks out

Bob Rosenblatt, a lawyer for the singer and his mother, said in early June: his client has not committed a crime.

“Well, I don’t know who’s claiming to owe money. You know, we were aware of the watches, we’re aware of the TV thing,” 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 planned to plead not guilty and request a jury trial. Kingston’s lawyer said at the time that he was “very confident” that the singer would drop the charges against him.

– The The Associated Press contributed to this report.