Photo Credit:Michelle
Sean Kingston was arrested in California on Thursday, shortly after his mother was taken into custody in Florida. An arrest warrant for the 34-year-old "Beautiful Girls" singer had been issued earlier in the day following a raid on a South Florida mansion he was renting. At the time, Kingston was out of state for a performance in California.
The Broward Sheriff's Office confirmed to PEOPLE, "This evening, police in Fort Irwin, Calif., arrested Kisean Anderson, aka Sean Kingston, without incident on a Broward Sheriff's Office arrest warrant for numerous fraud and theft charges. According to investigators, he will be booked into jail in San Bernardino, Calif."
Earlier that day, Kingston's mother, Janice Turner, 61, was arrested at the mansion on her own fraud and theft charges. The Broward Sheriff's Office stated that the arrest and search warrants were executed at a Southwest Ranches residence following an ongoing investigation.
Before his arrest, Kingston posted on his Instagram Stories, "People love negative energy! I am good and so is my mother! My lawyers are handling everything as we speak."
The raid stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Ver Ver Entertainment in February, claiming Kingston had not paid for items purchased from the company. The complaint, obtained by PEOPLE, alleges that Kingston made "numerous false representations" and falsely claimed a "current and ongoing working relationship" with singer Justin Bieber, with whom he collaborated on “Eenie Meanie” in 2010 and “Won’t Stop” in 2011.
The lawsuit also asserts that Kingston promised to produce promotional videos with Bieber to offset his payments and credit for the items hebought, but there was no ongoing relationship with Bieber. The complaint further alleges that Kingston breached his contract by failing to paydespite multiple attempts to collect payment in January and that he has a "long history of engaging in fraudulent conduct."
Ver Ver Entertainment noted that a judgment was entered against Kingston in 2015 after he obtained $356,000 in watches without payment, with
additional judgments in 2016 and 2022 for acquiring $301,500 in jewelry and luxury watches worth over $1 million without paying.
Attorney Dennis Card told PEOPLE, "I filed a lawsuit against Sean Kingston. A detective in Broward County read my lawsuit and contacted me, so we went down and gave a recorded statement and an affidavit with my client." He added that they had been "waiting on this raid for more than two months now."
