FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Sean Kingston is set to be sentenced in South Florida on Friday following his conviction in a $1 million fraud scheme.
Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Paul Anderson, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were found guilty by a federal jury in March on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Last month, U.S. Judge David Leibowitz sentenced Turner to five years in prison, but Kingston’s sentencing was postponed.
The arrests of Kingston, 35, and his mother occurred in May 2024 after a SWAT team searched Kingston’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. During the raid, Turner was arrested, while Kingston was detained at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert, where he was performing.
Court documents reveal that from April 2023 to March 2024, Kingston used social media to orchestrate purchases of luxury items. After arranging negotiations, Kingston would invite sellers to one of his upscale Florida residences, offering to promote them and their products on social media.
Investigators reported that when payment was due, Kingston or his mother would send the victims fake wire transfer receipts for the high-end merchandise, which included a bulletproof Escalade, watches, and a 19-foot (6-meter) LED TV.
Victims frequently tried to contact Kingston and Turner when the payments never went through but were often left unpaid, receiving funds only after initiating lawsuits or involving law enforcement.
Kingston, who was born in Florida and raised in Jamaica, shot to fame at age 17 with the 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls,” which laid his lyrics over Ben E. King’s 1961 song “Stand By Me.” His other hits include 2007’s “Take You There” and 2009’s “Fire Burning.”
