MIAMI, FL - JUNE 03: Sean Kingston performs live on stage during "Hot Summer Night" concert at FPL Solar Amphitheater at Bayfront Park on June 3, 2023 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Johnny Louis/Getty Images)
A judge sentenced Sean Kingston to three and a half years in prison on Friday (August 15), per the Associated Press. He was previously convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme in which he leveraged his fame to dupe sellers into giving him luxury items that he then never paid for.
A jury convicted Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Paul Anderson, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were convicted in March by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. She got five years in prison last month.
Before U.S. Judge David Leibowitz handed down Kingston’s sentence, the singer apologized to the judge in the South Florida courtroom. Also, he said he had learned from his actions. His attorney asked if he could self-surrender at a later date due to health issues. However, the judge ordered him taken into custody immediately. Kingston was wearing a black suit and a white shirt. Kingston removed his suit jacket after the judge’s order to take him in. Officials handcuffed the singer and led him out of the courtroom.
In the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton described Kingston as someone addicted to his celebrity lifestyle even when he could no longer afford to maintain it.
“He clearly doesn’t like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims,” Anton said Friday.
The federal prosecutor described a years-long pattern by Kingston of bullying victims for luxury merchandise and then refusing to pay. “He is a thief and a conman, plain and simple,” Anton said.
Defense attorney Zeljka Bozanic countered that the 35-year-old Kingston had the mentality of a teenager the age he was when he vaulted to stardom. The attorney said Kingston had almost no knowledge of his finances, relying on business managers and his mother.
“No one showed him how to invest his money,” Bozanic said. “Money went in and money went out on superficial things.”
Bozanic said Sean Kingston has already started paying back his victims. The attorney said he intends to pay back every cent once he is free and can start working again.
Judge Leibowitz rejected the idea that Kingston was unintelligent or naive. However, he credited the rapper with accepting responsibility and declining to testify rather than possibly lying in court. That was in contrast to Kingston’s mother, whose trial testimony Judge Leibowitz described as obstruction.
Judge Leibowitz’s demeanor was very different from what he gave Sean Kingston’s mother, whose trial testimony he described asobstruction.
Kingston and his mother were arrested in May 2024 after a SWAT team raided Kingston’s rented mansion in suburban Fort Lauderdale. His mother was taken into custody during the raid, while Kingston was arrested at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California’s Mojave Desert. At the time, he was performing on base.
According to court records, Kingston used social media from April 2023 to March 2024 to arrange purchases of luxury merchandise. After negotiating deals, Kingston would invite the sellers to one of his high-end Florida homes. He would promise to feature them and their products on social media.
Investigators said that when it came time to pay, Kingston or his mother would text the victims fake wire receipts for the items. Some examples included a bulletproof Escalade, watches, and a 19-foot (5.9-meter) LED TV. When the funds never cleared, victims often contacted Kingston and Turner repeatedly. However, authorities said they were never paid or received money only after filing lawsuits or contacting law enforcement.
Associated Press writer David Fischer contributed to this report via AP Newsroom.
