American rapper Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, have pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding multiple businesses out of over $1 million. The duo entered their pleas during an arraignment hearing on Monday before Broward Circuit Judge Ernest Kollra, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Kingston, born Kisean Anderson, and his mother are facing organized fraud and grand theft charges. The 34-year-old performer was arrested in May at Fort Irwin, an Army training base in California, while Turner was apprehended the same day after a SWAT team raided their rented mansion in Southwest Ranches, Florida.
The charges against them allege that since October 2023, they defrauded a jewelry business, a luxury bed company, a used luxury and exotic car dealership, and a luxury microLED TV company. Among the stolen items were money, jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade, and furniture.
Kingston, known for his 2007 hit “Beautiful Girls” and his collaboration with Justin Bieber on “Eenie Meenie,” was already on probation for trafficking stolen property before his arrest. Both Kingston and his mother are also facing related charges in federal court and are expected back in court on October 11.
This isn’t the first time the mother-son duo has faced legal trouble. In 2015, they were sued for $356,000 after failing to pay for customized watches, and in 2018, they were successfully sued for $301,000 by a New York jeweler for scamming the store out of nine items. Turner had also served nearly 1.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud in 2006 for stealing over $160,000.
