FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother were found guilty on all counts in their federal wire fraud trial in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Friday.
via: Daily Mail
Kingston, 35, and Turner, 62, stood accused of defrauding a jewelry business, a luxury bed company, a used luxury and exotic car dealership and a luxury microLED TV company since October 2023, arrest warrants said.
Now a jury has convicted both of them of all five charges leveled against them, with each of them potentially facing up to 20 years in prison.
The Beautiful Girls hitmaker is said to have wept in court when the verdict was announced, according to a report in TMZ.
When Turner was escorted from the courtroom and remanded into custody, Kingston allegedly pleaded with U.S. Marshalls to 'protect my mother.'
Kingston will remain in home detention until he and Turner are sentenced on July 11, while she remains in custody because the judge regards her as a flight risk.
Both Kingston and his mother pleaded not guilty to the charges against them last August during an arraignment hearing before Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra.
Kingston was originally arrested last May in Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California's Mojave Desert where he was performing, on a warrant issued by the Broward Sheriff´s Office.
Meanwhile, Turner was arrested on the same day after a SWAT team raided the singer's rented mansion in Southwest Ranches.
Warrants allege they stole money, $480,000 worth of jewelry, a $160,000 Cadillac Escalade and furniture.
Kingston's counsel defended him on the grounds that he was a 'child' who did not understand his finances, while the judge described his mother as the 'fixer' and the 'nerve center' for the criminal enterprise.
The Jamaican-American performer had a number one hit with the track Beautiful Girls in 2007 and collaborated with Justin Bieber on the 2010 song Eenie Meenie.
Kingston was already on two years' probation for trafficking stolen property before his arrest.
According to federal court records, his mother pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud for stealing over $160,000 and served nearly 1.5 years in prison.
The two have also been sued by various businesses.
In 2015, a seller of customized watches successfully sued Kingston and his mother in a New York City federal court for $356,000 after they failed to pay.
In 2018, a New York jeweler successfully sued the two for $301,000 after they scammed the store out of nine items.
More recently, a Florida entertainment systems company sued Kingston in February, saying he failed to pay $120,000 of a $150,000 bill for a 232-inch television it installed in his home. The TV is approximately 17 feet by 9.5 feet and covers a wall.
The singer was born Kisean Paul Anderson in Miami in 1990. In his youth, he moved with his family to Jamaica before returning to Florida in his teenage years for high school.
In the late 2000s, Kingston was one of the biggest names in hip-hop thanks to his collaborations with Justin Bieber, Dr. Dre and Nicki Minaj.
But his star has fallen somewhat since then as he's been without a major label release in more than a decade. His 2022 album Road to Deliverance failed to chart.
Kingston broke into the music scene at the age of 17 in 2007 with the hit 'Beautiful Girls,' which laid his lyrics over the musical track of 'Stand By Me' by Ben E. King.
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