Sean Kingston and his mother were clearly not interested in talking to reporters after a court hearing in their fraud case last week – as they hilariously ran from the cameras in a now-viral clip.
In the video captured by Florida’s Local 10 News on Friday (August 23), the “Beautiful Girls” singer can be seen running to his car as the reporter trails (and trolls) him, saying: “Sean, it looks ridiculous running like that!”
His mother Janice Turner followed soon after, jogging and waving her hands as she playfully yelled at the camera before getting into her car.
The pair were leaving their federal arraignment, where they pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud charges and asked for a trial by jury.
LOCAL 10 EXCLUSIVE: Sean Kingston, best known for his “Beautiful Girls” hit, ran out of federal court on Friday morning in Fort Lauderdale. Read the full story here: https://t.co/TmkFfsU5t9pic.twitter.com/jxluD3IOL4
— WPLG Local 10 News (@WPLGLocal10) August 23, 2024
The charges stem from allegations that the two cooked up a plot to acquire high-end jewelry, specialty and other pricey items by using fraudulent documents.
The United States Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Florida believes Kingston (born Kisean Anderson) 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.”
On May 23, Turner was arrested by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and the Davie Police SWAT. Turner, who has a history of convictions for filing false loan applications and bank fraud, was charged with numerous fraud and theft charges.
Attorney Dennis Card, who represents one of Sean Kingston’s alleged victims, said that Turner’s arrest is part and parcel of a larger crime involving her son. Thursday’s raid was done in connection with a lawsuit he filed against Kingston for not paying for purchased items.
“He likes having bling, he likes showing off, he’s a showman,” Card said to the outlet. “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 organized 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’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.”
Days later, Kingston was booked into the Broward County jail and eventually released on $100k bond in connection to the fraud and theft case.
According to the Associated Press, he was taken in to the Florida jail on June 2, following his arrest during a performance in California in May.
He was facing grand theft charges after he allegedly stole jewelry, a Cadillac Escalade and a custom bed worth more than $80,000. He was also accused of defrauding banks of more than $45,000, violating his probation for trafficking stolen property and writing bad checks. In total, he faces 10 different charges.
