Singer Sean Kingston was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Friday after being convicted of a $1 million fraud scheme in which he leveraged his fame to dupe sellers into giving him luxury items that he then never paid for.
Kingston, whose legal name is Kisean Paul Anderson, and his mother, Janice Eleanor Turner, were convicted in March by a federal jury of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. Turner was sentenced to five years in prison last month.
Before U.S. Judge David Leibowitz handed down Kingston’s sentence, the singer apologized to the judge in the South Florida courtroom and said he had learned from his actions. His attorney asked if he could self-surrender at a later date due to health issues, but the judge ordered him taken into custody immediately. Kingston, who was wearing a black suit and white shirt, removed his suit jacket and was handcuffed and led from the courtroom.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton described Kingston as someone addicted to his celebrity lifestyle even though he could no longer afford to maintain it.
“He clearly doesn’t like to pay and relies on his celebrity status to defraud his victims,” Anton said Friday.
The federal prosecutor described a yearslong pattern by Kingston of bullying victims for luxury merchandise and then refusing to pay.
“He is a thief and a conman, plain and simple,” Anton said.
Defense attorney Zeljka Bozanic countered that the 35-year-old Kingston had the mentality of a teenager — the age he was when he vaulted to stardom. The attorney said Kingston had almost no knowledge of his finances, relying on business managers and his mother.
“No one showed him how to invest his money,” Bozanic said. “Money went in and money went out on superficial things.”
Bozanic said Kingston has already started paying back his victims and intends to pay back every cent once he is free and can start working again.
Source: AP