Singer Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, were indicted in a Miami court on Friday on wire fraud charges. The two stand accused of obtaining over $1 million USD in property in a bank wire scheme.
Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and Turner were each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. The charges could see them face up to 20 years of prison on each count.
The District Attorney’s office for South Florida said in a press release that the charges stem from Anderson and Turner’s “involvement in a scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants through the use of fraudulent documents.”
Warrants for the charges say that the two stole $500,000 USD in jewelry, $160,000 USD from a Cadillac Escalade dealer and $86,000 USD from a customized bed maker, along with $200,000 USD from Bank of America, $100,000 USD from First Republic Bank. The duo allegedly claimed that they had wired over payments for items without the transfers actually taking place, and then kept the stolen items.
Anderson is already serving a two-year probation sentence for stolen property. Turner pleaded guilty to bank fraud charges in 2006 and served 1.5 years in federal prison.
