FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Rapper Sean Kingston was taken into custody in California on Thursday afternoon on allegations of fraud, following a raid by a SWAT team on his rented South Florida property, during which a van full of goods was taken away.
Kingston was taken into custody without any problems, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, on a Florida warrant near Fort Irwin, an Army installation in the desert located roughly 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles.
Earlier in the day, during a raid of the rapper’s 14,000-square-foot (1,300-square-meter) home in Southwest Ranches, a wealthy Fort Lauderdale suburb that is home to many celebrities and professional athletes, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Miami Dolphins star Tyreek Hill, Broward detectives arrested the rapper’s 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner.
All inquiries were sent to the sheriff’s office by the Broward County prosecutors, who declined to provide specifics regarding the charges due to an ongoing investigation. Reporters outside the house saw cops loading up a pickup van with merchandise following the operation. Expensive sports cars encircled the mansion.
“People enjoy negative vibes!” Kingston shared something earlier on Thursday on Instagram. My mother and I are doing well! Everything is being handled by my lawyers right now.” Later, the post was removed.
“We are aware of some of the allegations” made against the rapper and his mother, according to Robert Rosenblatt, their attorney.
In an email, Rosenblatt stated, “We look forward to addressing these in court and are confident of a successful resolution for Shawn and his mother.”
Kingston is presently on a two-year probationary period for trafficking in stolen property, according to documents from the Florida Department of Corrections. There was no additional information available regarding that conviction. While he awaits extradition to Florida, he will be detained in California.
His mother served about 1.5 years in prison after entering a guilty plea to bank fraud in 2006, according to federal court documents, for stealing more than $160,000. On a $160,000 bond, she was being held at the Broward jail on Thursday night.
The American-Jamaican rapper is most known for his hits “Take You There,” “Beautiful Girls,” and “Eenie Meenie,” which he co-wrote with Justin Bieber in 2007. He was injured in a personal watercraft accident in 2011 that almost killed him. It has been more than ten years since Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, released a single on a major label.
The detentions, according to an attorney who saw his mother’s arrest, are partially connected to a lawsuit he filed against Kingston in February, alleging that he defrauded a Florida company that installed a 232-inch (5.8 meter) television in his home, which is roughly 17 feet by 9.5 feet (5 meters by 3 meters).
Celebrity-savvy people can get away with a lot of things, according to lawyer Dennis Card, who made this statement to The Associated Press. He fabricates this opulent, ‘I am rich’ persona. His mother is an essential part of this. He portrays himself as a family man, saying things like, “I’m taking care of my mum,” yet she is well aware of what is happening.
According to Ver Ver Entertainment’s lawsuit, Kingston got in touch with the business in September to buy and install the television—which goes by Colossal TV—. The system has a $150,000 price tag.
Kingston apparently offered to film advertisements with Bieber for the owners if they would agree to a lower down payment and grant him credit.
According to the lawsuit, Kingston paid the business $30,000 in November to install the TV. According to the argument, no ads or additional funds were made despite multiple assurances.
The lawsuit claims that Bieber, who just fired his longtime manager, no longer works with Kingston. There was no way to get in touch with Bieber at the time.
Bieber was not involved with this at all, according to Card. “He had the misfortune of working with Sean on some projects in the past, and Sean constantly brings up his name.”
