Exactly one month after rapper Sean Kingston and his mother Janice Turner were federally indicted on wire fraud charges, the two have now been arraigned. As previously reported by The Root, the mother-and-son duo were federally indicted with wire fraud charges stemming from accusations that they “acquired more than $1 million in vehicles, jewelry, and other goods from unsuspecting sellers through the usage of fraudulent documents and Kingston’s celebrity status.”
They stand accused of an “organized scheme to defraud” establishments including a car dealership, and a jeweler, and are also accused of stealing a Cadillac Escalade from the dealership and $480,000 in jewelry from the aforementioned individual.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, they allege that the two “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they had executed bank wire or other monetary payment transfers when in fact no such bank wire or other monetary payment transfers had been executed by the purported banks.”
During their court-ordered hearing in Broward Circuit Court in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. on Monday, attorneys for Kingston and Turner submitted their clients’ not guilty plea and asked for a jury trial and discovery from the state, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE. This arraignment also comes three months after Kingston’s South Florida mansion was raided.
The rapper and his mother are facing one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud. If convicted, they could face up to 20 years in prison per each count.
“Once the true facts come out we are confident of vindication,” Kingston’s attorney Robert Rosenblatt said.