Well, it turns out Sean Kingston and his mom, Janice Turner, weren’t just out here singing about being “Beautiful Girls”—they were also allegedly out here scamming beautiful price tags. A federal jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, decided on Friday (March 28) that the mother-son duo wasn’t just allegedly finessing luxury items—they were definitely finessing luxury items. Oops.
Both were found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit fraud and four counts of wire fraud. That’s five solid fraud charges each, which, in Monopoly terms, means they did not pass “Go” and are not collecting $200. Instead, they could be facing up to 20 years in prison per count. That’s 100 years max. Even ancient tortoises don’t live that long.
As a temporary consequence, Sean is on house arrest until sentencing. Which, honestly, might not be that bad if his mansion has good WiFi, a stocked fridge, and a solid Netflix queue.
So, What Did They Do?
According to the United States Attorney’s Office, Sean and Janice apparently thought they had unlocked Grand Theft Auto: Luxury Edition. They allegedly ran a scam where they used fake bank wires to “buy” high-end cars, jewelry, and other expensive goods—except the money never actually left their (possibly imaginary) bank accounts. Yet, they still kept the fancy stuff. That’s like ordering food at a restaurant, eating the whole meal, and then saying, “Oops, my bank account is theoretical.”
The feds say their little shopping spree racked up over $1 million in stolen goods, which is impressive but also extremely illegal.
Now, as we wait for sentencing, we can only wonder: Will Sean try to drop a “locked-up remix” from house arrest? Will his mom ground him before the judge does? And most importantly—does his house have enough snacks to survive? Stay tuned.