Sean Kingston and his mother have been indicted in Florida on federal charges related to a scheme in which they committed more than $1 million worth of fraud, prosecutors said.
The singer and rapper, 34, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 61, both of Southwest Ranches, Fla., appeared in federal court on Friday after a grand jury in Miami, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida.
The mother and son were both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. The two allegedly took part in a “scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants through the use of fraudulent documents.”
If convicted, Kingston and Turner each face up to 20 years in prison on each count.
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida stated in its indictment that the defendants “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers.” The office alleges that the payments never went through, resulting in the defendants obtaining $1 million in property despite non-payment.
Anderson first broke through with his platinum hit ‘Beautiful Girls,’ which spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2007, followed by ‘Take You There,’ which peaked at No. 7 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
Since then, Kingston has worked with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, and Wyclef Jean.
Anderson and Turner were first arrested on the fraud charges in late May. Turner was arrested in Florida, while Anderson was arrested in California hours later after performing at a concert.
“People love negative energy!” the singer wrote on Instagram before the arrest. “I am good and so is my mother!..my lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”
Robert Rosenblatt, an attorney representing the pair, told the Associated Press in an email, “We are aware of some of the allegations” being made against both of them. The statement continued, “We look forward to addressing these in court and are confident of a successful resolution for Shawn and his mother.”