Federal authorities raided hip hop artist Sean Kingston’s Miami home over theft and fraud charges on Thursday, and his mother has been arrested.
According to NBC Miami, the Broward Sheriff’s Office raided Kingston’s Southwest Ranches home following a claim that it held unpaid merchandise held by the rapper. Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Paul Anderson, is alleged to have scammed a business of a $150,000 entertainment system and not paying for it.
Photos and videos from the arrest also showed that his mother, 61-year-old Janice Turner, was arrested and is facing fraud and theft charges. The raid comes months after Ver Ver Entertainment LLC filed a lawsuit claiming Kington failed to pay $150,000 for an entertainment system.
Dennis Card, an attorney for Ver Ver Entertainment, addressed the press outside Kingston’s home. According to him, the rapper has used his celebrity status to target and scam people.
“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 pay for it, and then he simply never pays.”
Card made a point of announcing that Kingston was renting the Southwest Ranches home and even claimed that the artist was “stealing” the house.
“He’s stealing the property itself. He has a standardized script that he gives people, which is that he’s a recording artist, that he certainly is, that he wants to purchase these things, but he never pays for anything. He gets the stuff, and that’s the end of the story. He does it over and over and over.”
It’s unclear if Kingston was at the home at the time of the raid, but based on Card’s statement, parts of the home were not accessed by the authorities.
This is not the first time Kingston has been accused of keeping merchandise and not paying for it. Months ago, he was sued by a company called Dream Watch, which claimed that he became unresponsive after receiving two watches – a Richard Mille ($534,000) and a Patek Phillippe Calibre ($378,000). The lawsuit alleged that there was a problem with a wire transfer, and thereafter, Kingston stopped replying to them.
Sean Kingston has since issued a statement following the arrest of his mother, Mama Kingston, saying that she is good. “People love negative energy! I am good and so is my mother!.. my lawyers are handling everything as we speak [praying hand emojis],” he wrote.
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