Fort LOUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Rapper Sean Kingston was sentenced to three and a half years on Friday after being convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme in South Florida.
Kingston was convicted by federal ju judges in March of Kischston, Kischn Paul Anderson and his mother, Janis Eleanor Turner, respectively, in March of a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four-count wire fraud. US Judge David Leibowitz sentenced Turner to five years in prison last month.
The same judge was sentenced to Kingston, who was immediately taken into custody. Leibowitz also ordered a return hearing to be held within 90 days. Kingston’s ruling will be followed by a three-year, overseen release.
Kingston, 35, and his mother were arrested in May 2024 after the SWAT team raided a rental property in Kingston in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Turner was taken into custody during the attack, and Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an army training base in the Moharb Desert, California, where he was performing.
According to court records, Kingston used social media from April 2023 to March 2024 to arrange for purchases of high-end products. After negotiating the deal, Kingston invited sellers to one of his high-end Florida homes and promised to showcase them and their products on social media.
Investigators said when it was time to pay, Kingston or his mother would text the victims on a fake wire receipt of gorgeous items, including bulletproof escalades, clocks and 19 feet (5.9 meters) LED TVs.
When the funds were not wiped out, the victims often repeatedly contacted Kingston and Turner, but were never paid or received money only after filing a lawsuit or contacting law enforcement.
Born in Florida and raised in Jamaica, Kingston was shot to fame at the age of 17 with the 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls,” and posted lyrics for the 1961 song “Stand by Me.” His other hits include 2007’s “Take You There” and 2009’s “Fire Burning.”
