Legal problems continue to mount for singer and rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner.
A federal grand jury in Miami charged Kingston and Turner with one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud, the U. S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a news release on Friday, July 19.
Kingston, 34, born Kisean Anderson, and Turner, 61, made their first appearance in federal court on Friday. The two are accused of committing more than $1 million dollars in fraud.
Related: Sean Kingston Covers Head With Towel as He’s Released From Jail
Prosecutors allege the pair orchestrated a scheme to “defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods” obtained by using “fraudulent documents.”
If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison on each of the six counts.
“We look forward to litigating this case and defending Sean in federal court,” Kingston’s attorney Robert Rosenblatt told CNN.
Kingston and Turner were arrested in South Florida on May 23, following a raid on the singer-songwriter’s 14,000-square foot mansion in Southwest Ranches, a wealthy suburb of Fort Lauderdale, in connection with a lawsuit over stolen goods.
Local authorities said the two had a history of bouncing checks and scamming businesses and banks for furniture, electronics, jewelry and a Cadillac Escalade.
NBC 6 Miami reported at the time that the complaint accused the “Beautiful Girls” performer of “allegedly not paying for purchased items, including a 232-inch TV that Kingston was seen posing in front of in a picture.”
The suit said Kingston had Ver Ver Entertainment install the expensive TV system in his home without paying off the bill.
The legal documents said the singer claimed he and Justin Bieber would do commercials for the company in exchange for a lower down payment and store credit. But the commercials apparently never happened.
Attorney Dennis Card, who is representing plaintiff Ver Ver Entertainment, talked to reporters outside the singer’s house during the raid. Card alleged Kingston had a history of fraud.
“He likes having bling, he likes showing off, he’s a showman,” Card said. “My client has a $150,000 television sound system that’s in there, there’s also about $1 million worth of watches that are in there, there’s a $80,000 custom bed that was ordered. This is an organized systematic fraud.”
Police took Turner into custody during the May 23 raid, and she quickly posted bond. Kingston was out of town at the time.
Later that day, the singer was arrested at a widely-publicized concert on the U.S. Army base in Irwin, California in the Mojave Desert — about two hours outside of Los Angeles.
He was extradited from California to South Florida and booked into the Broward County Jail on Sunday, June 2, online inmate records showed.
The singer-songwriter posted $100,000 bond and walked out of jail with a towel covering his head, as he tried to hide his face from reporters.
Just before he was taken into custody in California, Kingston posted a statement about the raid on his Instagram Story.
“People love negative energy!” he wrote. “I am good, and so is my mother! … My lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”
According to published reports, Kingston was already on two-years probation for trafficking stolen property.
The Jamaican-American performer is best known to fans for his 2007 No. 1 single “Beautiful Girls.” His other hit songs include the 2010 singles “Eenie Meenie” featuring Justin Bieber and “Letting Go (Dutty Love)” featuring Nicki Minaj.
In 2011, Kingston was injured in a near-fatal jet ski accident.
