MIAMI (CelebrityAccess) — Rapper Sean Kingston has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for his role in a $1 million fraud scheme involving unpaid luxury items.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were convicted in March on federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Kingston used his social media presence to leverage his celebrity status to convince people to sell him high-end goods, including luxury watches, an armored Cadillac Escalade, and a 19-foot television. When it came time to pay, Kingston allegedly became difficult to contact or used deceptive tactics, such as counterfeit wire transfer receipts to avoid making payments.
“He clearly doesn’t like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton told the court Friday. “He is a thief and a conman, plain and simple.”
Turner was sentenced to five years in prison in July.
Kingston, born in Florida and raised in Jamaica, rose to fame in 2007 with his chart-topping hit “Beautiful Girls.” His other hits include “Take You There” (2007) and “Fire Burning” (2009).
