FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Sean Kingston is scheduled to be sentenced in South Florida on Friday after being convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme.
Kingston, whose authorized title is Kisean Paul Anderson, and his mom, Janice Eleanor Turner, had been every convicted by a federal jury in March of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and 4 counts of wire fraud. U.S. Decide David Leibowitz sentenced Turner final month to 5 years in jail, however Kingston’s sentencing was rescheduled.
Kingston, 35, and his mom had been arrested in Might 2024 after a SWAT group raided Kingston’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Turner was taken into custody in the course of the raid, whereas Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an Military coaching base in California’s Mojave Desert, the place he was performing.
Based on courtroom data, Kingston used social media from April 2023 to March 2024 to rearrange purchases of high-end merchandise. After negotiating offers, Kingston would invite the sellers to one in all his high-end Florida houses and promise to characteristic them and their merchandise on social media.
Investigators stated that when it got here time to pay, Kingston or his mom would textual content the victims faux wire receipts for the posh merchandise, which included a bulletproof Escalade, watches and a 19-foot (5.9-meter) LED TV, investigators stated.
When the funds by no means cleared, victims usually contacted Kingston and Turner repeatedly, however had been both by no means paid or obtained cash solely after submitting lawsuits or contacting legislation enforcement.
Kingston shot to fame at age 17 with the 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls,” which laid his lyrics over Ben E. King’s 1961 tune “Stand By Me.”