FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Singer and rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, already facing state charges in Florida, have been indicted by a federal grand jury for a scheme in which they are accused of more than $1 million in fraud. Kingston, 34, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 61, both of Southwest Ranches, Fla.
, appeared in federal court last week following their indictment by a federal grand jury in Miami. They each face one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud, according to the U.S.
attorney office in the Southern District of Florida . If convicted, each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said. Previously Rapper arrested after SWAT raids his mansion, nabs his mom Rapper in the slammer after arrest, return to Florida “It was the purpose of the scheme and artifice for the defendants and co-conspirators to unjustly enrich themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers as payment for vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants,” the Miami Herald said, citing the indictment.
The plan, the indictment said, was for Kingston and Turner to make false wire transfers to “purchase” several expensive items. The businesses gave them the goods but didn’t receive the money. Some of their ill-gotten gains included $480,000 for two watches, $285,000 for another watch and $159,702.
78 for a car, records show. In all, Kingston and Turner kept $1,017,702.78 of fraudulently purchased goods, The Herald said.
In May, a Broward County SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion and carted away a van load of items. Several hours later, Kingston was arrested in California. Broward County detectives also arrested Turner during the mansion raid.
The raid spawned both the state and federal charges. The state charges accuse Kingston and Turner of conducting an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, identity theft and related crimes, according to arrest warrants released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. The day of the raid, reporters outside the mansion watched authorities fill a loading van with goods.
The mansion was surrounded by expensive sports cars. Kingston, 34, hasn’t had a major label release in more than a decade. In 2007 the Jamaican-American rapper recorded “Beautiful Girls,” which was No.
1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 for four weeks . He has had 14 songs crack the Hot 100 chart, including “Eenie Meenie,” a collaboration with Justin Bieber that reached No. 15 in 2010 and remained in the Hot 100 for 18 weeks.
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