Sean Kingston has been accused of defrauding as much as $1million from several businesses including a jeweler and exotic car dealership.
Prosecutors claim Kingston, 34, and his mother Janice Turner, 61, committed more than a million dollars in fraud in recent months, stealing money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and furniture, documents released Friday allege.Â
The mother and son are charged with conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office.
The two were arrested Thursday after a SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Turner was arrested in the raid, while Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing.
According to the arrest warrant, they are charged with a total of 10 counts related to the raid.Â
Prosecutors claim Sean Kingston, 34, and his mother Janice Turner, 61, committed more than a million dollars in fraud in recent months
Turner was released on a $160,000 bond. She pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over $160,000 and served nearly 1.5 years in prison
The duo allegedly never paid for a a Cadillac Escalade worth $159,701.49 and $480,000-worth of jewelry.
The rest of the charges are related to bank fraud and writing bad checks.Â
Kingston is also accused of grand theft over a custom bed worth $86,568.33, as reported by TMZ.
Kingston, who had a No. 1 hit with Beautiful Girls in 2007 and performed with Justin Bieber on the song Eenie Meenie, is being held at a California jail awaiting his return to Florida.
Robert Rosenblatt, the attorney for the Jamaican-American performer and his mother, said on Friday that Kingston would return voluntarily if allowed, ‘which would save the state the expense of extradition and the costs of travel for the detectives and Sean.’
Turner was released on a $160,000 bond.
Broward Sheriff’s Office personnel move items in the garage at Sean Kingston’s Southwest Ranches, Florida, home
The scope of the raid (pictured) has not been confirmed, but Kingston is currently embroiled in a legal battle over stolen goods
Court documents say that from October to March the mother and son 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 and other smaller amounts.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, was already on two years’ probation for trafficking stolen property. Further information on that conviction could not be found.
According to federal court records, his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over $160,000 and served nearly 1.5 years in prison.
The two have also been sued by various businesses.Â
In 2015, a seller of customized watches successfully sued Kingston and his mother in a New York City federal court for $356,000 after they failed to pay.
In 2018, a New York jeweler successfully sued the two for $301,000 after they scammed the store out of nine items.
More recently, a Florida entertainment systems company sued Kingston in February, saying he failed to pay $120,000 of a $150,000 bill for a 232-inch television it installed in his home. The TV is approximately 17 feet by 9.5 feet and covers a wall.
The Colossal TV retails for around $150,000Â
Kingston’s mother Janice Turner has been released from jail on bail in the fraud case against the pair, seen here in 2012
He allegedly told the owners that if they gave him a low down payment and credit, he and Bieber would make commercials for them. That never happened, and Kingston never paid, the lawsuit says.
The company’s attorney says Bieber had no involvement — Kingston was falsely using his name.
In the late 2000s, Kingston was one of the biggest names in hip-hop thanks to his collaborations with Justin Bieber, Dr. Dre and Nicki Minaj, not to mention his smash hit Beautiful Girls.
But his star has fallen somewhat since then as he’s been without a major label release in more than a decade. His 2022 album Road to Deliverance failed to chart.
The singer was born Kisean Paul Anderson in Miami in 1990. In his youth, he moved with his family to Jamaica before returning to Florida in his teenage years for high school.
Meanwhile, Sean is still at the San Bernardino County jail in California awaiting extradition to Florida after being arrested on the same warrant as his mother after his concert at Fort Irwin, pictured in 2019
The case claims that Kingston acquired the TV on credit with a low down payment because he promised the seller, Ver Ver Entertainment, who sell the $150,000 TV sets under the brand name Colossal TV, that Justin Bieber would do commercials for them, seen here in 2010
She spent four days behind bars after the raid on her son’s Florida mansion last week
He was seriously injured in 2011 when he was riding on a jet ski with a woman and it crashed into a bridge. He was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition where he spent a 11 days in treatment.
During that stay, doctor’s discovered that Kingston had suffered a torn aorta, which required emergency surgery. He later said the procedure saved his life.
In the aftermath, Kingston was required to pay a $180 fine as he was accused of ‘carelessness’ while driving the jet ski.Â
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