Rapper Sean Kingston arrested in California on fraud charges following a SWAT team raid on his South Florida mansion.
Rapper Sean Kingston has been arrested in California on fraud charges, following a SWAT team raid on his rented South Florida mansion that also led to the arrest of his mother.
Kingston was apprehended without incident on Thursday in Fort Irwin, an Army base about 150 miles northeast of Los Angeles, in response to a Florida warrant. Earlier in the day, Broward County detectives arrested his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, during a raid on his 14,000-square-foot home in Southwest Ranches, a wealthy suburb of Fort Lauderdale known for its celebrity residents, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill.
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Broward County prosecutors deferred all inquiries to the sheriff’s office, which has not released specific details about the charges due to the ongoing investigation. Reporters observed authorities loading goods into a van outside Kingston’s mansion, which was surrounded by expensive sports cars.
Kingston had posted on Instagram earlier in the day, “People love negative energy! I am good, and so is my mother! … My lawyers are handling everything as we speak,” but the post was later removed.
Robert Rosenblatt, the attorney representing Kingston and his mother, acknowledged the allegations and expressed confidence in a favorable resolution for both. Kingston is currently on probation for trafficking stolen property and will be held in California pending extradition to Florida.
In 2006, his mother pleaded guilty to bank fraud and served nearly 1.5 years in prison. She was being held at the Broward jail on Thursday night on a $160,000 bond.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, is best known for his 2007 hit single “Beautiful Girls” and his collaboration with Justin Bieber on “Eenie Meenie.” He has not released a major label album in over a decade.
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An attorney who witnessed Turner’s arrest indicated that the charges partly stem from a lawsuit filed against Kingston in February, accusing him of defrauding a Florida company that installed a 232-inch television in his home.
The lawsuit alleges Sean Kingston paid only $30,000 of the $150,000 cost and failed to deliver on promised commercials featuring himself and Bieber.
Attorney Dennis Card, who filed the lawsuit, said Kingston no longer has a working relationship with Bieber, who is uninvolved in the matter.