On Friday (3.29) following a 3-hour deliberation, Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner were found guilty of federal charges stemming from more than $1 million in wire fraud.
Per the court’s decision, Turner must stay in federal custody until her July sentencing while the musician will be under house arrest and is required to post a bond of a home valued at $500,000 along with $200,000 in cash.
According to local Florida outlet Local10, which covered Friday’s hearing, Kingston broke down in tears and said, “Protect my mother.”
According to documents filed in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida, Shawn and Janice 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.” They allegedly “enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment” on those hefty purchases but never sent the money. As a result they stole about $1 million worth of property, per the indictment.
Kingston was arrested in May of 2024, hours after his mother’s arrest during a raid in South Florida. Both mother and her musician son are scheduled to be sentenced on July 11 and they could face up to two decades in prison for each of the six charged counts.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Sean Kingston 17– cropped.jpg – Public Domain