Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston, 34, has been transported from California to South Florida, where he faces charges of committing over a million dollars’ worth of fraud alongside his mother, Janice Turner. Kingston, who was arrested on May 23 at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California, was transferred to Broward County jail on Sunday after waiving his right to fight extradition. Turner, 61, was arrested the same day during a SWAT team raid on Kingston’s rented mansion in Fort Lauderdale.
During a bond hearing, Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, faced ten criminal charges, including grand theft, fraud, criminal use of personal identification, and violating probation for trafficking stolen property. The charges allege that between October and March, Kingston and his mother stole nearly $500,000 in jewellery, over $200,000 from Bank of America, $160,000 from a Cadillac Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank, and $86,000 from a custom bedmaker. Kingston’s bond was set at $100,000, with his attorneys arguing that he should be eligible for release given the existing bond for his probation violation.
Attorney Bob Rosenblatt, representing both Kingston and Turner, vehemently denied the fraud allegations. “There’s no fraud here. There’s no organized fraud at all,” Rosenblatt asserted, labelling the accusations as a breach of contract rather than criminal activity. He highlighted their awareness of disputes involving watches and television but questioned other financial claims.
Kingston was already serving a two-year probation sentence for trafficking stolen property when the new charges surfaced. Turner has a history of financial misconduct, having pleaded guilty to bank fraud in 2006, for which she served nearly one and a half years in federal prison. The unfolding legal battle will determine whether Kingston and his mother can successfully refute the serious charges against them.
