Rapper Sean Kingston promised exposure to local businesses that sold him watches, a huge television, a Cadillac Escalade and other luxury items, but the businesses only wanted to get paid, a federal prosecutor told jurors Friday.
That jury is now weighing whether Kingston, 35, performer of the inescapable 2007 song “Beautiful Girls” and other hits, is guilty along with his mother of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Anton said the facts are enough to overcome any doubt.
“There is no dispute that there was a scheme to defraud,” Anton said, showing the text messages that appeared to verify huge payments from Kingston, whose real name is Kisean Anderson. He and his mother, Janice Turner, face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted.
Defense lawyers said the vendors were paid, either partially or in full, but prosecutors noted it was only after they received electronic messages falsely indicating they had already received partial payments.
“There’s very little about this [musical celebrity] life that’s normal,” said Turner’s lawyer, Humberto Dominguez, portraying his client as a financially unsophisticated mother who thought she was doing the right thing. Turner’s own testimony a day earlier seemed to validate the prosecution’s contention that she and her son knew the messages they were sending the vendors were not true.
Kingston’s lawyer, Zelkja Bozanic, touched on the same themes as Dominguez. Kingston “rose to fame overnight,” suddenly coming into large sums of money when he was just 17. He had “no idea how to run a business, has no idea how much money is in his bank account,” she said.
Deliberations began about 3 p.m. Friday.
Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda.