Jamaican-American singer Sean Kingston has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for his role in a $1 million fraud scheme that also involved his mother, Janice Turner.
Kingston will also serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. Turner was sentenced in July to five years in prison.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, and Turner were convicted last March by a federal jury on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
The pair were arrested in May 2024 after a SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion in Southwest Ranches, Florida. Turner was taken into custody during the raid, while Kingston was later apprehended at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California, where he was performing. He waived his right to fight extradition and was returned to Florida.
According to federal prosecutors, Kingston and Turner orchestrated a scheme to acquire high-end items—including a luxury SUV, jewelry, expensive watches, and a wall-sized TV—without paying for them. They allegedly provided false wire transfer receipts to make it appear as though payments had been completed, but investigators confirmed the transfers never occurred.
A key piece of evidence included a text message from Kingston to his mother instructing her to create a fake receipt, writing: “I told you to make [a] fake receipt… so it [looks] like the transfer will be there in a couple [of] days.” Prosecutors said the scheme allowed the pair to retain more than $1 million in goods and assets without paying.
Kingston’s attorney sought to humanize the rapper, describing him as “a soft guy who grew up poor when he rose to fame overnight,” and said he had “no idea how to run a business [and] no idea how much money is in his bank account.” The jury reached its verdict in about three hours.
In addition to federal charges, Kingston and Turner are facing separate state fraud charges.
