Pop Star Sean Kingston arrested on Fraud Charges
Mr. Sean Kingston, a singer and rapper known for his 2007 hit song “Beautiful Girls,” got arrested on Thursday. His mother was also arrested at the same time.
Singer,rapper Sean Kingston got arrested in California on Thursday, hours after a SWAT team raided his Broward County, Florida home and took along with his mother into custody, authorities said.
Mr. Kingston, 34, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 61, face “multiple counts of fraud and theft,” the Broward County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement .
Mr. Kingston was still a teenager when his debut single, “Beautiful Girls,” spent four weeks at top No. 1 on the Billboard in 2007. He collaborated with Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj and Wyclef Jean later, but kept a low profile in recent years.
Mr. Kingston and his mother, who were detained at Fort Irwin, California, could not be reached for comment and it was not immediately clear whether they had lawyers. Representatives for Mr. Kingston did not answer to a request for comment in the press. It was not immediately known by Friday whether he and Ms. Turner were still in prison.
“People like negative energy!” Mr. Kingston posted on Instagram before his arrest on Thursday. “I’m good and so is my mom!… My lawyers are handling everything as we talk.”
The location in Southwest Ranches, Fla., southwest of Fort Lauderdale, where the search was conducted, is listed as Mr. Kingston’s residence in a lawsuit filed against him in February by a high-profile sales and installation company. -finish entertainment systems.
The lawsuit, filed by Ver Ver Entertainment, accuses Kingston of fraud and breach of contract for failing to pay for a 232-inch television and “rigid sound system” installed in her home in September 2023.
to the lawsuit, Mr. Kingston promised that in exchange for a smaller advance, he would persuade Bieber to produce commercials for the company. No commercials were filmed and Mr. Kingston paid only $30,000 of the $115,000 he owed for the purchase and installation of the television and sound system, according to the suit.
Broward County sheriff’s officials declined to comment Friday and it was not immediately clear whether the lawsuit is related to the criminal investigation.
Dennis Card, a lawyer representing Ver Ver Entertainment, said in an email that his client gave a sworn statement to the detective investigating Mr. Kingston and was told that the authorities used it to obtain a warrant for his arrest.
Expimled, a company owned by Ver Ver, is one of the defrauded parties.
Arrest warrants for Kingston and Turner, released Friday in response to a public request, charge them with an organized scheme to defraud institutions, including car dealerships and jewelers, of more than $50,000.
In other cases, Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner are accused of stealing a Cadillac Escalade from a dealership and stealing $480,000 worth of jewelry from a person.
Mr. Kingston is also charged with violating the terms of his two-year probation for receiving stolen property. His parole expires on Oct. 1, 2025.
Turner pleaded guilty in 2006 to bank fraud and making fraudulent loan applications and was sentenced to 16 months in prison, according to court records. He was released from prison in March 2007.
