American rapper and singer Sean Kingston had his mum, Janice Turner, have been found guilty of wire fraud and they could spend up to 20 years in prison for the crime
Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, have been found guilty of wire fraud. The case involved them falsely claiming to pay for luxury items, including cars, jewellery, and other high-value goods, by pretending to make bank transfers that were never processed.
They managed to fraudulently get over $1 million worth of goods and money. Their trial lasted for a few days, taking place from March 24 to March 28, 2025, in Broward County, Florida, and concluded with the jury deliberating for approximately three and a half hours before reaching their verdict, according to reports.
They convicted them of conspiracy and multiple counts of wire fraud. Kingston is reported to have been seen crying ‘with his hands clasped’ as the jury read out its verdict. The charges involved defrauding a car dealership out of $160,000 (£123,000) for a Cadillac Escalade, stealing nearly $500,000 (£386,000) worth of jewellery, and obtaining other goods like a custom bed valued at $86,000 (£66,000) without paying for them.
After the verdict, Kingston became emotional, asking for officials to “protect my mother” as she was taken into custody. He was placed under house arrest with an electronic monitor and had to post a bond to be released ahead of the sentencing.
Both Kingston and Turner are set to be sentenced in July 2025, and each could face up to 20 years in prison on each charge. However, the final sentences could be influenced by factors like their cooperation and prior criminal history.
During the trial, jeweller Moshe Edery from Fort Lauderdale admitted he lost his reputation after a $368,000 (£285,000) transfer from Kingston didn’t go through. He told the court, “I’m being scammed.”
During the trial, Edery revealed that the Beat it singer and his mother had faked a wire transfer for a luxury watch and falsely promised to help grow his business by introducing him to other celebrities, according to a TMZ report.
Edery explained to the jury that he gave Kingston an Audemars Piguet watch worth $285,000 (£220,252) in exchange for the promise of celebrity connections. A voice memo played in court featured the rapper telling Edery, “I’m going to have you at all my video shoots and red carpets.”
Both Kingston and Turner have had legal problems in the past. Turner had been convicted of bank fraud back in 2006 and served almost 18 months in prison. Kingston, who is 35, was already on probation for a previous crime when he was arrested in this case.
Sean rose to fame due to his 2007 debut single Beautiful Girls, which reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart at the time. He then went on to release a number of singles, Tomorrow (2009) and Back 2 Life (2013). Fire Burning, and is also known for his Beat It, featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa.
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.
