Sean Kingston, Mother Found Guilty for Wire Fraud

Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner have been found guilty of federal charges stemming from more than $1 million in wire fraud. The decision came Friday after a 3-hour deliberation by the jury, per NBC News.

Turner must stay in federal custody until her July sentencing while Kingston will face house arrest and will need to post a bond of a home valued at $500,000 along with $200,000 in cash. Both mother and musician son are scheduled to be sentenced on July 11.

According to local Florida outlet Local10, which covered Friday’s hearing, Kingston cried in court and said, “Protect my mother.”

The mother and son were both charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court’s Southern District of Florida. The two allegedly took part in a “scheme to defraud victim sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods purchased by the defendants through the use of fraudulent documents.”

They allegedly “enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment” on those hefty purchases but never sent the money. In doing so they stole about $1 million worth of property, per the indictment.

Both Kingston and his mother could face up to 20 years in prison for each of the six charged counts. Kingston was arrested in May last year, hours after his mother’s arrest during a raid in South Florida.