Sean Kingston Sentenced to 3.5 Years in Prison for Fraud Scheme

Sean Kingston, the prominent singer and rapper, has been sentenced to 42 months in federal prison for participating in a $1 million fraud scheme alongside his mother, Janice Turner. Both were convicted of the same charges: conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Turner was sentenced to five years.

The case:

• Kingston and Turner implemented a scheme to scam proprietors out of $1 million worth of various luxury items, such as an SUV, jewelry, expensive watches, and a wall-sized TV.

• Turner and Kingston claimed to have paid for said items, but law enforcement discovered that the payments were never made.

• Fake wire transfer receipts were presented as proof of payment. Fake transfers as large as $480,000 were made.

• Kingston and Turner exchanged text messages that read: "I told you to make [a] fake receipt," and then, "so it [looks] like the transfer will be there in a couple [of] days."