Sean Kingston Arrested on Fraud Charges in California Following Florida Home Raid

Michael Saponara
·2 min read
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Sean Kingston was arrested on fraud charges in California on Thursday (May 23). A spokesperson for the Broward Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Billboard on Friday morning (May 24) that the “Beautiful Girls” rapper — born Kisean Anderson — was apprehended without incident on a warrant from Florida in Fort Irwin, Calif., which is about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Kingston’s arrest came mere hours after his South Florida mansion rental was raided by Davie Police SWAT team members on Thursday, with officers taking his mother, Janice Turner, into custody and hitting the 61-year-old with fraud and theft charges.

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The raid allegedly came in response to a lawsuit filed by attorney Dennis Card, who claimed that Kingston demands items and doesn’t end up paying for them, says NBC Miami.

“He’s got basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and that he obviously puts on a big show here, this is a rental house, he doesn’t own it, and he lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without him paying for it and then he simply never pays,” Card claimed of the 34-year-old singer.

“This evening, police in Fort Irwin, CA, arrested Kisean Anderson, aka Sean Kingston (2/3/1990) without incident on a Broward Sheriff’s Office arrest warrant for numerous fraud and theft charges,” read a statement from the Broward Sheriff’s office, which noted that, according to investigators, the singer was slated to be booked into jail in San Bernardino, Calif.

Reporters on the scene at the Southwest Ranches residence in Florida noticed officers loading vans with various items from the artist’s rental home following his mother’s arrest. Kingston attempted to calm fans’ worries in a since-deleted post to his Instagram Story on Thursday. “People love negative energy! I am good, and so is my mother! … My lawyers are handling everything as we speak,” he wrote.

Sean Kingston stormed onto the music scene as a teenager when his “Beautiful Girls” single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2007. His most recent project arrived in 2022 with Road to Deliverance. At press time a spokesperson for Kingston had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

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