Sean Kingston, the 34-year-old singer, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, faced serious legal trouble after being indicted on charges of wire fraud.
Both were in court in Miami on Friday, July 19, marking their first appearance since their arrest in late May. They each faced one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud.
The accusations revolved around a scheme where Kingston and Turner allegedly used fraudulent documents to acquire high-end jewelry and other expensive items. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida claimed that Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and Turner unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire transfers or other monetary payments. The total value of the fraud exceeded $1 million.
On May 23, Janice Turner was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Davie Police SWAT team. Turner, with a history of convictions for filing false loan applications and bank fraud, faced multiple fraud and theft charges.
Attorney Dennis Card, representing one of Kingston’s alleged victims, linked Turner’s arrest to a broader crime involving the singer. According to Card, Kingston’s luxurious lifestyle, including a $150,000 television sound system and over $1 million worth of watches, was funded by systematic fraud. He portrayed Kingston as a showman who used his celebrity status to deceive people into releasing items without payment.
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Kingston himself was arrested days later and booked into the Broward County jail. He was released on a $100,000 bond in connection with the fraud and theft case. The singer’s legal woes didn’t end there; he also faced grand theft charges for allegedly stealing jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and a custom bed worth over $80,000. Furthermore, he was accused of defrauding banks of more than $45,000, violating probation for trafficking stolen property, and writing bad checks. In total, he faced ten different charges.
Following the initial raid and his mother’s arrest, Kingston attempted to address the situation on social media, claiming that he and his mother were fine and that their lawyers were handling the issue. The charges also related to a lawsuit filed by Ver Ver Entertainment LLC, accusing Kingston of breach of contract and fraud after he allegedly failed to pay for a large TV and sound system as agreed.
