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A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., convicted the rapper Sean Kingston and his mother on Friday in a scheme involving more than $1 million worth of fraud, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kingston, 35, whose real name is Kisean Anderson, and his mother, Janice Turner, 62, both of Southwest Ranches, Fla., had been charged with five counts of wire fraud.<\/p>\n
They essentially took possession of high-end vehicles, jewelry and other goods by pretending to have paid for them through the use of fraudulent documents, according to the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the Southern District of Florida.<\/p>\n
Each faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on each count, prosecutors said. The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in July.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Ms. Turner, who testified during the trial, was taken into federal custody on Friday. Her lawyer, Humberto Dominguez, said on Saturday morning that they will appeal the verdict.<\/p>\n
Mr. Kingston, who did not testify, was allowed to post bond of a home valued at $500,000 and $200,000 in cash, but will remain in home detention with electronic monitoring. His lawyer, Zeljka Bozanic, said on Saturday that she was thankful that Mr. Kingston was allowed to remain out on bond but added that they will also file an appeal.<\/p>\n
As a 17-year-old, Mr. Kingston became known for his debut single, \u201cBeautiful Girls<\/a>,\u201d which used a sample from Ben E. King\u2019s \u201cStand By Me.\u201d It was ranked at No. 1<\/a> for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2007.<\/p>\n \u201cHe spent his childhood in Jamaica, which gave him his stage name and his command of patois,\u201d the critic Kelefa Sanneh wrote in The New York Times<\/a> in 2007, \u201cbut his version of thug love (\u2018Girl, I know it\u2019s rough, but come with me\/We can take a trip to the \u2019hood\u2019) makes it sound as if he\u2019s trying too hard, or not hard enough.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n According to prosecutors, Mr. Kingston and Ms. Turner \u201cunjustly enriched themselves\u201d by falsely claiming that they had executed bank wire or other monetary transfers as payment for vehicles, jewelry and other high-end items when no such transfers had taken place.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It added up to a property haul of more than $1 million, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n