Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, could be facing decades behind bars on each as both have been found guilty of fraud of over $1million worth of goods
American rapper Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner have been found guilty of over $1million in fraud.
Kingston, 35, was arrested in California in May of last year, after a SWAT team descended on the Florida mansion he was renting. He and Turner, 62, were arrested on fraud charges and now have been found guilty of wire fraud in federal court.
The pair defrauded businesses out of more than $1million [£772k] and could now face up to 20 years in prison for each charge. They denied falsely claiming to pay for luxury goods including cars and jewellery by pretending to make bank transfers that were never processed.
A federal court in Florida has now convicted the pair on all five charges against them – including four counts of wire fraud and one of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. They reached the verdict on Friday (March 28) after just three hours of deliberations, it’s reported.
The charges accused the pair of defrauding a car dealership out of $160,000 (£123,000) for a Cadillac Escalade, stealing nearly $500,000 (£386,000) worth of jewellery, and obtaining other luxury items, such as a bed valued at $86,000 (£66,000) without paying for them.
The Beautiful Girls hitmaker is said to have cried in court as the guilty verdict was read out. According to TMZ, he pleaded with authorities to “protect my mother” as he was excorted from the court room and taken into custody.
The singer has been placed on house arrest with an electronic monitor and is on bond. Both Kingston and his mother, who pleaded not guilty to the charges last year, will be sentenced in July of this year.
During the trial, jeweller Moshe Edery told the court he was “being scammed” by Kingston. He said he lost his reputation after a $368,000 (£285,000) transfer from Kingston didn’t go through.
Edery told the jury that he gave the rapperan Audemars Piguet watch worth $285,000 (£220,252) in exchange for the promise of celebrity connections. A voice memo played in court featured the rapper telling Edery: “I’m going to have you at all my video shoots and red carpets.”
In May, attorney Dennis Card accused the Eenie Meenie rapper of defrauding the Florida company that installed his huge TV set. He claimed to AP: “It is amazing what you can get away with if you are a celebrity.
“He creates this larger than life, “I am rich” persona. His mother is a necessary component in this. He presents himself as a family-oriented guy, “I’m taking care of my mom,” but she knows full well what is going on.”
The attorney claimed there was “basically a script” Kingston uses that involved him using his link to Justin Bieber to “lure people in”. “[Kingston] 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,” they claimed.
In 2011, the rapper was rushed to hospital in critical condition with a torn aorta after crashing his watercraft in Miami Beach. He and a female passenger in the vehicle had received medical attention and the musician recovered after heart surgery.
He was robbed of his $300,000 chain in 2016 after an alleged fight at the Penthouse Nightclub & Dayclub in Los Angeles, according to TMZ. It’s unclear if the chain was ever recovered.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
