Sean Kingston requests new lawyer in $1 million fraud trial
Sean Kingston has asked for a new lawyer in his $1 million fraud trial. In July 2024, the singer and his mother, Janice Turner, were indicted on charges connected to wire fraud, which could see them serving up to 20 years in prison.
Kingston and Turner appeared in Broward County federal court in Florida on March 14th for the first day of their trial. Nine women and four men were selected from 45 prospective jurors. However, Turner requested to change attorneys because she didn’t get along with her previous counsel.
According to NBC Miami, Turner walked out of court holding a Bible in her arm before getting into a black SUV. Kingston rolled down the window to say, “All my fans who supported, I love you guys.”
The pair have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. They’re accused of plotting to acquire high-end jewellery, speciality items, and other expensive items using fraudulent documents.
The United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida claims Kingston and Turner purchased over $1 million in property and “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers.”
Attorney Dennis Card, who represents one of Kingston’s alleged victims, told NBC News, “[Kingston] likes having bling, he likes showing off, he’s a showman. My client has a $150,000 television sound system that’s in there, there’s also about $1 million worth of watches that are in there, there’s a $80,000 custom bed that was ordered. This is an organised systematic fraud.”
Card continued: “He’s got basically a script, he says that he works with Justin Bieber, and that he obviously puts on a big show here, 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.”
He added, “He’s 100 percent a scammer, he’s on felony probation right now for trafficking in stolen property, he’s got judgements against him for procuring more than $1 million in watches without paying for them. This is just an ongoing pattern for Sean.”