Gerrard Kaonga
Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother were found guilty of a series of crimes that allowed them to obtain over $1 million worth of goods.
In a Florida courtroom on Friday (March 28), Kingston and his mother Janice Turner were convicted on all five charges they faced stemming from their May 2024 arrest.
The pair were found guilty of wire fraud charges through a scheme that allowed them to swindle money and goods from car dealerships, multiple banks as well as a mattress firm.
Prosecutors involved in the investigation into the pair alleged that they attempted to defraud their victims through fraudulent documents in exchange for luxury items.
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The arrests last year stemmed from a civil lawsuit filed against the rapper by Ver Ver Entertainment LLC in February 2024.
They were seeking payment of damages for breach of contract and fraud after Kingston ordered the 232-inch Colossal TV and a sound system for his home.
To get a cheaper deal on the $111,000 purchase Kingston allegedly promised to make promotional material about the TV alongside Justin Bieber.
However, the commercials were never made and Bieber was never involved.
Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, cried as the verdict was read out at the Fort Lauderdale federal court.
As well as this, he issued a three-word plea to the authorities as Turner was taken by US Marshalls into federal custody.
He simply said ‘protect my mother’.
Victims of the scheme testified in the court and stated that Kingston and his mother had defrauded them out of a bulletproof Cadillac Escalade, a Colossal TV and hundreds of thousands of dollars in watches.
The comments made by previous victims created a clear picture of the length the pair had been operating this alleged scheme.
On two separate occasions the pair were successfully sued and ordered to pay over $300,000 in both cases.
The two had to dish out $356,000 in 2015 after they were accused in New York City federal court of failing to pay a customized watch seller.
In 2018 the pair again had to pay $301,000 to a New York jeweler who claimed that they had scammed them out of nine luxury items.
The sentencing hearing for both is currently set for July 11 and the pair could face up to 20 years in prison for their crimes.
UNILAD has reached out to Kingston's representatives for comment.