American-Jamaican singer Sean Kingston has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for masterminding a sophisticated million-dollar fraud scheme in which he used his celebrity status to acquire luxury items without payment.
According to the AFP, Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Paul Anderson, was convicted in March alongside his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
Turner, who prosecutors said worked closely with her son, received a five-year sentence last month.
Delivering the sentence on Friday, U.S. District Judge David Leibowitz ordered the 35-year-old to be taken into custody immediately, rejecting his attorney’s plea for delayed surrender due to health concerns.
“He clearly doesn’t like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton, describing Kingston as addicted to a lavish lifestyle that he could no longer legitimately afford.
“He is a thief and a conman, plain and simple,” Anton added.
The court heard that from April 2023 to March 2024, Kingston contacted sellers of high-end goods via social media, inviting them to his Florida residences and promising promotional exposure in exchange for items such as luxury watches, a bulletproof Cadillac Escalade, and an enormous 19-foot LED television.
After taking delivery, investigators said Kingston and his mother would send fake wire transfer confirmations and disappear without paying.
Defense lawyer Zeljka Bozanic argued that Kingston had the mentality of a teenager thrust into fame and lacked financial guidance.
“Money went in and money went out on superficial things,” she said. “No one showed him how to invest his money.”
Kingston, dressed in a black suit and white shirt, apologized in court before his sentencing and claimed to have begun paying back some of his victims.
Judge Leibowitz said he did not view the singer as naive — but acknowledged he had taken responsibility by choosing not to testify falsely in his own defense.
“I give you credit for accepting responsibility,” the judge said.
Kingston and his mother were arrested in May 2024 after a SWAT team raided his rented Fort Lauderdale mansion. While Turner was detained on-site, Kingston was later apprehended in California, where he was performing at a military base.
Kingston rose to international fame at age 17 with the 2007 chart-topping hit “Beautiful Girls,” followed by “Take You There” and “Fire Burning.”
