The home of rapper Sean Kingston, real name Kisean Anderson, was raided by Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies and a Davie Police SWAT team, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, was taken into custody.
On the morning of Thursday, May 23, law enforcement swarmed Kingston’s rented Southwest Ranches residence located near Southwest 146th Avenue and 46th Street. Photographs show over a dozen BSO deputies at the scene, alongside a command center set up in the driveway of the 34-year-old’s home.
The recording artist’s mother was allegedly taken into custody after a civil complaint was filed claiming that Kingston and his team are engaged in an intricate scam that has defrauded many vendors for services or merchandise, promising to pay but never coughing up any money.
According to a civil complaint filed with the Broward Clerk of Courts, Ver Ver Entertainment claims that Kingston only partially paid for a 232-inch television and entertainment system in November 2023.
Despite the installation being completed, the company alleges that Kingston failed to settle the remaining balance.
“He basically has a sales pitch that he goes through to defraud people. He induces them into giving him really expensive things,” attorney Dennis Card, who represents Ver Ver Entertainment, said to Local 10.
Kingston allegedly told Card’s clients that if they would hook him up with a lower payment and credit, he would get his good friend Justin Bieber to do a commercial with him.
“We know that our property is inside this house right here, so as soon as the raid takes place, we are going to have a crew of people in there to reassemble it and take it back to its rightful owner,” Card added.
In a separate interview, Card said, “He likes having bling, he likes showing off, he’s a showman.”
Card turned his attention to Kingston’s mother, saying, “She’s complicit in it, she knows what’s going on.”
Upon conclusion of the raid, Kingston’s mother was taken into custody on numerous fraud and theft charges.
This is not the first time that she has been wrapped up in charges that point to fraud.
Federal court records reveal that in January 2006, Turner pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false loan applications and one count of bank fraud involving $132,000 in misappropriated funds. She was sentenced to sixteen months in prison and five years of supervised release and was ordered to repay the stolen amount.
After the arrest, Kingston took to Instagram to let his 1.9 million followers know the update on his mother.
“People love negative energy!” he wrote in his IG Stories, “I am good and so is my mother!.. my lawyers are handling everything as we speak.”
Apparently, Kingston’s lawyers did not handle everything. Later Thursday evening, it was reported that the Jamaican-American rapper was arrested in San Bernardino County, California, without incident. He was arrested in the High Desert community of Fort Irwin and will be booked into jail in San Bernardino, where he faces numerous fraud and theft charges.
The Shade Room commenters weighed in on Kingston’s statement.
One person asked, “Will the lawyers get paid?”
“Sir, pay those people back their money!” another person wrote.
A third comment read, “We didn’t ask if ya was good! Are you gonna pay them people @seankingston.”
Card wants him to do just that. He said that in addition to his client’s $150,000 television sound system, he believes the artist has “about $1 million worth of watches that are in there, there’s a $80,000 custom bed that was ordered.”
“This is an organized systematic fraud,” the attorney continued to explain to NBC Miami, “This is a rental house, he doesn’t own it, and he lures people using his celebrity into having them release things without him paying for it and then he simply never pays.”
Around the time the entertainment system was being installed, the recording artist faced legal trouble from a jeweler. Dream Watch, a luxury watch company, has filed a court petition seeking $1,054,107.50 for two unpaid timepieces: a Richard Mille Model RM 65.01 Automatic and a Patek Philippe.
The company alleges that Kingston contacted them in 2022 to purchase the high-end watches, prompting a representative to travel from Malaysia to Los Angeles to deliver the items. However, according to RadarOnline, Kingston failed to make the payment, prompting the owners to want a judgment from the courts.
This was not the first time he was in trouble over a jewelry bill. In 2014, Avi Da Jeweler supplied Kingston with various fake chains, diamond Jesus pieces and bracelets from 2008-2013. TMZ reported at the time that the jeweler said he had been stiffed for $226,200 for the wears, and not only asked for the money he was owed but also $1 million in punitive damages.
Two years later, he would be back in court to settle a dispute with Aqua Master in the Diamond District, who sued him over $301,500 worth of bounced checks for two watches and other items.
These exquisite and high-quality watches had a total of 46 carats of diamonds. According to Page Six, he also received another chain with 99 carats of diamonds, two diamond tennis necklaces, and two yellow gold chains.
Jewelry and entertainment systems aren’t the only things Kingston is accused of scamming. In 2023, a private jet broker called the rapper out for what the broker said was signing a contract with a three-day payment deadline to purchase a jet from NavaJets. The company makes the deal and does multiple upgrades to the jet, as requested by the rapper, but when it comes time to get their payment, Kingston never holds up his end of the deal. What’s worse, Kingston even posted several photos and videos in the private jet on social media, despite ghosting the company and refusing to pay.
No reps for Kingston have released a statement on the recent raid, his criminal history, or any new music.
