Sean Kingston, mother indicted on federal charges in US$1m fraud scheme

MIAMI (AP):

Rapper and singer Sean Kingston and his mother have been indicted in South Florida on federal charges of committing more than US$1 million worth of fraud.

Kingston, 34, and his mother, 61-year-old Janice Turner, made their first appearances on Friday in federal court, according to court records. A Miami grand jury returned an indictment earlier this month accusing Kingston and his mother of participating in a scheme to defraud victims of high-end specialty vehicles, jewellery and other goods through the use of fraudulent documents.

Kingston was booked into the Broward County jail on similar state charges last month following a May 23 arrest at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing. Turner was arrested the same day as her son, when a SWAT team raided his rented mansion in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

According to the federal indictment, Kingston and Turner falsely claimed that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers for high-end items when no such transfers had taken place. Investigators said Kingston and Turner then kept over US$1 million worth of fraudulently purchased items despite not paying for them.

The warrants for the state charges say that from October to March, they stole almost US$500,000 in jewellery, more than US$200,000 from Bank of America, US$160,000 from a Cadilac Escalade dealer, more than US$100,000 from First Republic Bank, and US$86,000 from the maker of customised beds.

The Jamaican American performer had a No. 1 hit with Beautiful Girls in 2007 and collaborated with Justin Bieber on the song Eenie Meenie.

Robert Rosenblatt, an attorney for Kingston and his mother, didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment from AP. He previously said they looked forward to addressing the charges and were “confident of a successful resolution”.

Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, was already serving a two-year probation sentence for trafficking stolen property.

His mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over USS$160,000 and served nearly 1.5 years in prison, according to federal court records.