Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner have officially been indicted on charges connected to $1 million in wire fraud, which could see each of them serving up to 20 years in prison.
According to Variety, the singer, 34, and his mother, 61, were in court in Miami on Friday (July 19), marking their first appearance since their arrest in late May. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud charges.
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The charges stem from allegations that the two cooked up a plot to acquire high-end jewelry, specialty and other pricey items by using fraudulent documents.
The United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida believes Kingston (born Kisean Anderson) and Turner purchased over $1 million in property, and “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers.”
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On May 23, Janice Turner was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Davie Police SWAT. Turner, who has a history of convictions for filing false loan applications and bank fraud, was charged with numerous fraud and theft charges.
Attorney Dennis Card, who represents one of Sean Kingston’s alleged victims, said that Turner’s arrest is part and parcel of a larger crime involving the “Beautiful Girls” singer. Thursday’s raid was done in connection with a lawsuit he filed against Kingston for not paying for purchased items.
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“He likes having bling, he likes showing off, he’s a showman,” Card said to the outlet. “My client has a $150,000 television sound system that’s in there, there’s also about $1 million worth of watches that are in there, there’s a $80,000 custom bed that was ordered. This is an organized systematic fraud.”
Card continued: “He’s got basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and that he 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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“He’s 100 percent a scammer, he’s on felony probation right now for trafficking in stolen property, he’s got judgements against him for procuring more than $1 million in watches without paying for them. This is just an ongoing pattern for Sean.”
Days later, Kingston was booked into the Broward County jail and eventually released on $100k bond in connection to the fraud and theft case.
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According to the Associate Press, he was taken in to the Florida jail on June 2, following his arrest during a performance in California in May.
The “Beautiful Girls” singer was facing grand theft charges after he allegedly stole jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and a custom bed worth more than $80,000. He was also accused of defrauding banks of more than $45,000, violating his probation for trafficking stolen property and writing bad checks. In total, he faces 10 different charges.
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Following the initial raid in Florida and his mother’s arrest, he took to social media to clear his name.
“People love negative energy!” he posted on Instagram. “I am good and so is my mother! My lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”
The arrests relate to a lawsuit filed against him earlier this year by a company called Ver Ver Entertainment LLC, who are accusing the singer of breach of contract and fraud after he reached out to the company to purchase a large TV and sound system.
In exchange for the electronics, which would have cost over $100,000, Kingston allegedly promised to make promotional videos for the products with Justin Bieber, who he worked with on “Eeenie Meenie.”
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He paid a $30,000 down payment for the goods and agreed to make a second payment of $47,000, while the rest would be paid for in the form of social-media posts.
According to the lawsuit, he failed to make the second payment after the TV was installed and did not make any of the posts either.
