Rapper Sean Kingston and His Mother Plead Not Guilty to $1 Million Fraud Charges
American rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, have pleaded not guilty to charges of organized fraud and grand theft, accused of defrauding several businesses out of over $1 million.
According to the Sun Sentinel, Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother entered their pleas during an arraignment on Monday before Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra.
The allegations against them stem from incidents dating back to October 2023, where they are accused of defrauding a jewelry business, a luxury bed company, a used luxury and exotic car dealership, and a luxury microLED TV company.
Kingston, 34, was originally arrested in May at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert, on a warrant issued by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. His mother, 61, was arrested the same day after a SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion in Southwest Ranches, Florida.
The arrest warrants allege that they stole money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and furniture. Kingston and Turner are scheduled to appear in court again on October 11 and are also facing related federal charges.
Kingston, a Jamaican-American performer known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls” and his collaboration with Justin Bieber on the 2010 track “Eenie Meenie,” was already on probation for trafficking stolen property at the time of his arrest.
Court records show that his mother has a history of fraud, having pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2006, which resulted in a prison sentence of nearly 1.5 years. The pair has also faced multiple lawsuits from businesses over the years, including a successful lawsuit in 2015 by a customized watch seller for $356,000 and another in 2018 by a New York jeweler for $301,000.