Janice Turner, the mother of singer Sean Kingston, has been sentenced to five years in prison after she and her son were convicted in a $1 million fraud case in Broward County.
In March, a jury found Turner, 63, and Sean Kingston, 35, guilty of five offenses related to wire fraud, according to court records. They were indicted in July 2024, shortly after authorities raided Kingston’s rented seven-bedroom, 7,966 square foot home in Southwest Ranches.
The indictment revealed that Kingston and Turner engaged in a lucrative wire fraud scheme from April 2023 to March 2024, falsely claiming that they had made legitimate wire transfers for vehicles, jewelry, and other goods. However, the businesses involved never received payment. Their alleged fraudulent activities included transactions of $480,000 for two watches, $285,000 for another watch, and $159,702.78 for a car, totaling over $1 million in goods.
Turner faced a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison. Her attorneys asked U.S. District Court Judge David S. Leibowitz to sentence her to two and a half years, citing her charitable work, various health issues, and minimal criminal history.
During the sentencing, Judge Leibowitz reportedly characterized Turner as the “nerve center” of the fraud scheme. In a document filed days before the hearing, Turner’s attorneys acknowledged that she would be deported to Jamaica following her conviction.
In 2006, Turner pleaded guilty to bank fraud and served over a year in federal prison. Her attorneys stated, “Ms. Turner will go to prison; she has earned the prison sentence. However, a sentence greater than thirty months is a waste of taxpayer resources based on her history and characteristics.”
Sean Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, is scheduled to be sentenced on August 28. The South Florida native is best known for hit songs such as “Beautiful Girls,” “Fire Burning,” and “Eenie Meenie,” featuring Justin Bieber. In the late 2000s, he rose to fame as a best-selling reggae artist, achieving several Billboard Top 10 singles.