Sean Kingston and his mother have been indicted over an alleged $1 million wire fraud scheme.
The "Beautiful Girls" artist and his 61-year-old mother Janice Turner appeared for a hearing at a federal courtroom in Miami on Friday, July 19. They were formally charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. According to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida, the defendants are accused of “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers.”
Kingston and Turner were arrested back in May after a SWAT team raided the artist's home in Southwest Ranches, Fla. Police apprehended Turner at the scene and her son was captured hours later after a show in California. During the raid, an attorney representing one of Kingston's victims was outside as the feds confiscated a massive 232-inch TV and sound system from his client.
"[Kingston] lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without having him pay for it and then he simply never pays," Dennis Card continued. “He is stealing the property itself. He has a standardized script that he gives people, which is that he’s a recording artist, that he’s certainly is, and that he wants to purchase these things, but he never pays for anything. He gets the stuff and that’s the end of the story. He does it over and over and over.”
The 34-year-old artist, born Kisean Anderson, was also accused of pulling a similar con to get cars, jewelry and other lavish items. In total, all the items they received are worth $1 million. Both defendants were recently released on bail. Kingston and Turner face up to 20 years in prison for each charge if they're convicted.