Sean Kingston, mother plead not guilty to organized fraud, grand theft

Rapper Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner were arraigned on Monday, charged with organized fraud and grand theft charges. Both have pleaded not guilty.

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Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and Turner are accused of defrauding several businesses out of more than $1 million, The Associated Press reported.

The rapper was arrested in May in California on a warrant issued by the Broward Sheriff’s Office. The warrant said that the mother and son had defrauded businesses that sold jewelry, luxury beds, used luxury and exotic cars and luxury microLED televisions. The alleged crimes date back to October 2023.

Singer Sean Kingston booked into South Florida jail

WFOR said the alleged breakdown of fraudulent purchases is as follows:

• Nearly $500,000 in jewelry
• More than $200,000 from Bank of America
• $160,000 from an Escalade dealer
• More than $100,000 from First Republic Bank
• $86,000 from customized bedmaker.

Prosecutors said they used fraudulent documents to make the purchases, WFOR reported.

A SWAT team had raided his Southwest Ranches home as part of the investigation. He had rented the home in the Fort Lauderdale suburbs. His mother was arrested during the raid while Kingston was arrested at the Fort Irwin National Training Center in California where he was performing, the AP reported in May.

Rapper Sean Kingston, mother arrested after SWAT raids house

Last week, Kingston and his mother pleaded not guilty in federal court to wire fraud charges, WFOR reported.

“We believe he’s innocent and we’re looking forward to trying his case in state or federal court or both if necessary,” Kingston’s attorney said after the arraignment on Monday. Attorney Robert Rosenblatt said that both the state and federal charges deal with the same alleged crimes so there may be some legal issues with the protection.

“We advised the court that we are going to be filing some motions regarding the double jeopardy issues and federal and state court,” Rosenblatt said, according to WFOR .