Rapper and singer Sean Kingston and his mother have been indicted on federal charges of committing more than $1m (£774k) worth of fraud.
The Beautiful Girls singer, 34, and his 61-year-old mother Janice Turner are accused of participating in a scheme to defraud victims of high-end speciality vehicles, jewellery and other goods through the use of fraudulent documents.
Back in May, a SWAT team in Florida raided the singer’s rented mansion in a suburb of celebrity-favourite Fort Lauderdale and arrested Turner over fraud and theft linked to the installation of a gigantic TV.
Kingston was arrested later the same day at Fort Irwin, a US army base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing, and charged with similar offences at state level.
The pair made their first appearances in a federal court in Miami on Friday.
According to the federal indictment, the mother-and-son falsely claimed that they had executed electronic bank transfers and other payment transfers for high-end items when no such transactions had taken place.
Police said they then kept over $1m worth of fraudulently purchased items despite not paying for them.
From October 2023 to March this year, the pair allegedly defrauded almost $500,000 worth of jewellery, more than $200,000 from the Bank of America, $160,000 from a Cadilac Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank and $86,000 from the maker of customised beds.
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Robert Rosenblatt, the lawyer representing Kingston and his mother, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
He previously said they looked forward to addressing the charges and were “confident of a successful resolution”.
Jamaican American performer Kingston had a number one hit with Beautiful Girls in 2007. He went on to collaborate with Justin Bieber on the song Eenie Meenie.
