Sean Kingston and his mother found guilty of wire fraud

The singer and his mother now face decades in prison The post Sean Kingston and his mother found guilty of wire fraud appeared first on NME.

Mar 29, 2025 - 11:53

Sean Kingston and his mother have been found guilty of wire fraud in a $1 million trial.

Kingston – real name Kisean Paul Anderson – and his mother Janice Turner face decades in prison after being found guilty on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.

The jury in Broward County court deliberated for three hours yesterday (March 28) before landing on the verdict, per CBS News.

Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Both Kingston and Turner will be sentenced on July 11.

They were arrested in May 2024 following a SWAT raid on his South Florida mansion. The raids were conducted in the wake of a lawsuit filed against Kingston for allegedly not paying for luxury items.

During the raid, Turner was arrested on “numerous fraud and theft charges”. It is also reported that Kingston was not home at the time of the police raid. The BBC reported that Kingston was arrested in California, hours after the raid.

An attorney for the individual that sued Kingston said the singer used “basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and 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.”

Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, at the 40th Anniversary American Music Awards red carpet. CREDIT: Albert L. Ortega/WireImage

Two months after the raids, Kingston and Turner were indicted in Miami federal court and charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.

The indictment was made in connection to a scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end vehicles, jewellery and other goods purchased through fraudulent documents.

At the time, the United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida stated that the scheme involved making payments through banks that never actually went through, resulting in Kingston and his mother accruing an excess of $1 million (£772,815) in property.

Fort Lauderdale jeweller Moshe Edery testified during the trial, saying that the singer and his mother falsified a wire transfer for a luxury watch and falsely promised to introduce him to other celebrities to grow his business, per NBC.

Edery told the jury he gave Kingston an Audemars Piguet watch in exchange for $285,000 (£220,252) and the promise he would introduce him to other celebrities.

In a voice memo played during the trial, Kingston can be heard saying, “I’m going to have you at all my video shoots and red carpets.” In another text message, Kingston told Edery he was with him “for life.”

Sean Kingston. CREDIT: Jason Koerner/Getty Images for Live Nation

Kingston provided Edery with a screenshot of a wire transfer, which the bank said was not authentic. Edery was fired from his job and says he lost credibility and was blacklisted from the industry after Kingston failed to pay.

During cross-examination, Kingston’s defense team asked Edery why he didn’t ask his boss for permission to give the watch.

Edery explained that employees had access to the safe and made deals with customers, which was how the company did business. He said he trusted Kingston because of his status.

Turner also took to the stand and admitted to falsifying wires in an effort to protect her son from scammers by delaying payments for luxury items.

Kingston was slated to take the stand in the trial, but ultimately decided not to do so.

A key piece of evidence was a text that Kingston sent to his mother that read, “I told you to make [a] fake receipt” followed by “so it [looks] like the transfer will be there in a couple [of] days.”

Kingston was propelled to fame when he was 17 years old with his 2007 hit ‘Beautiful Girls’. The song topped the UK singles charts and the Billboard Hot 100, making him the first artist born in the 1990s to top the latter chart.

Throughout his career, he released four albums and collaborated with artists including Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Soulja Boy, Natasha Bedingfield and Chris Brown.

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