Singer-rapper Sean Kingston faces extradition to Florida; warrants detail fraud, theft charges against him and his mother
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Sean Kingston and his mother worked together to systematically defraud businesses and are now each facing multiple counts of grand theft and fraud, according to Broward Sheriff’s Office warrants released Friday.
The warrants were released a day after Kingston and his mother were arrested Thursday amid a raid conducted by SWAT teams at the singer and rapper’s home in Broward County. Kingston now faces extradition from California to Florida while his mother, Janice Turner, could return home from jail by the end of the day, according to the family’s attorney.
The home she returns to will be different from the way she left it. Authorities raided Kingston’s sprawling Southwest Ranches mansion Thursday, filling U-Haul trucks with items and towing away at least one of the cars parked in the driveway. Turner was handcuffed at the scene and taken to the Broward Main Jail, where she has remained, inmate records show. Late Thursday, Kingston was arrested on a Broward Sheriff’s Office warrant at the Fort Irwin military base in California.
Between October 2023 and March of this year, Kingston, his mother “and others known and unknown” illegally obtained items from businesses and people including Mazal Jewelry Inc., Maree Inc., Ocean Auto Club, Expimled FL and Andrii Nikolenko under false pretenses, according to the warrants. Items included furniture worth over $86,000, a Cadillac Escalade, over $400,000 worth of jewelry, and over $300,000 obtained through fraudulently identifying as banks including Bank of America and First Republic Bank.
Most of the time, Turner used checks in amounts she could not afford while Kingston assisted her or reaped the benefits, the warrants say.
Kingston was already on probation for a 2020 case involving trafficking in stolen property, according to Florida prison records. He is now facing charges on one count of organized scheme to defraud over $50,000, four counts of criminal use of personal identification information, three counts of grand theft, two of them worth over $100,000, one count of making an insufficient funds check for over $150, and one count of violating his probation.
His mother faces largely the same charges: one count of organized scheme to defraud over $50,000, three counts of criminal use of personal identification information, three counts of grand theft, two of them worth over $100,000, and one count of making an insufficient funds check for over $150.
The two had been accused of receiving goods and services they never paid for in lawsuits spanning the last several years, sometimes naming the two together or one of them individually. Kingston is accused of failing to pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and over $1 million in luxury watches, according to a recent complaint. This month, a lawsuit accused his mother of failing to pay several months of the $25,000 monthly rent for a beachside home in Fort Lauderdale.
Kingston was arrested about 5 p.m. Thursday near the Fort Irwin military base, San Bernadino County inmate records show. He is being held at the West Valley Detention Center.
Kingston had been scheduled to perform at the base about 4 p.m. for the final night of “Desert Warrior Week,” according to Fort Irwin’s social media page. Some people wrote online that they had watched Kingston’s performance only to learn of his arrest shortly thereafter.
The singer has made appearances at other military bases in recent months; in March, he was a lead performer at Fort Johnson’s “ForgeFest,” according to the base’s Morale, Welfare and Recreation website.
The family’s attorney, Robert Rosenblatt, said that Kingston will waive his extradition hearing and return to Florida over the coming days. It could take as long as two weeks, depending on how deputies decide to transport him.
Meanwhile, Kingston’s mother remained in jail following her first appearance Friday morning. She will be held until prosecutors can assess the funds she is putting up for her $160,000 bail and ensure they come from legitimate sources, due to the nature of the charges against her.
Rosenblatt said that his office is in the process of removing the hold on Turner and anticipates she will be released later Friday.
“She’ll be back in Southwest Ranches resting her head on a pillow tonight,” he said.
SWAT teams, deputies and some alleged victims descended on the house Thursday, removing items that Kingston and his mother are accused of never paying for, according to an attorney who was at the scene.
Dennis Card, who represents Ver Ver Entertainment, said he went into the home Thursday with his client. According to the company’s February lawsuit, workers installed a home theater and audio system at the home which Kingston and his mother never paid for in full. Card said the whole thing cost an estimated $150,000, but his clients only received a $30,000 down payment, according to the complaint.
On Thursday, his client and multiple workers took the system apart. Card said other victims had flown in from Utah to collect a bed they had sold Kingston.
Erica Gleaton, the CEO of Maree, the Utah-based luxury bed company named in the warrant, declined to comment on the charges Friday.
“Due to the many victims and complexity of this ongoing investigation, we wish not to comment at this time,” she said in an email. “We will continue to pray for Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner.”
