A jury in South Florida has found Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, guilty on all counts in their federal fraud trial.
Jurors deliberated just over three hours before handing down their verdicts on Friday evening, March 28, according to CBS News.
Kingston, 35, was placed on house arrest. Turner, 61, was immediately remanded into custody.
Per CBS, the judge said Turner needed to be taken off the streets because of her past criminal history and her role as “operator, fixer, and accountant” of the fraud scheme.
Related: Sean Kingston Fraud Trial Begins With Jeweler Testifying He Was ‘Scammed’ by Singer
The mother and son were convicted on one count each of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
They had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The two are scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.
Kingston, born Kisean Anderson, is best known for his 2007 No. 1 single “Beautiful Girls.”
He asked the judge for permission to travel to Texas for a scheduled performance, but the request was immediately rejected.
The trial began on Monday, March 24, and lasted five days.
Kingston and Turner were accused of defrauding local businesses of more than $1 million in goods, federal prosecutors said in a press release.
Local police said the pair scammed vendors out of furniture, high-end jewelry, electronics, and luxury cars, as previously reported.
On Wednesday Fort Lauderdale-based jeweler Moshe Edery took the stand. He accused Kingston and Turner of falsifying a wire transfer after saying they were sending over payment for a $250,000 watch he let Kingston take home without paying for up front, according to NBC6 South Florida.
The jeweler said he trusted Kingston because of the singer’s celebrity status.
Edery said Turner sent him a screenshot of a wire transfer receipt confirming payment for the watch. When he took the document to the bank, he was told it was fake. Edery said he lost his job and was blacklisted in the industry after letting the watch slip away.
Kingston and Turner’s luck ran out after they were hit with a lawsuit. Police raided the singer’s 14,000-square-foot mansion in Southwest Ranches, Florida, and the two were arrested on May 23, 2024.
Kingston was in California performing at the time, but was taken into custody on the West Coast during simultaneous police operations. He was extradited back to Florida.
The singer was already on two years’ probation after a conviction for trafficking stolen property.
Kingston, a Jamaican-American performer, had a string of hit songs, including the 2010 single “Eenie Meenie” featuring Justin Bieber, and “Letting Go (Dutty Love)” featuring Nicki Minaj.
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