Rapper and singer Sean Kingston and his mother have been indicted on federal charges of committing more than $1 million (£774 million) worth of fraud.

The “Beautiful Girls” singer, 34, and his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner, are accused of participating in a scheme to defraud victims of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry, and other goods through the use of fraudulent documents. In May, a SWAT team in Florida raided the singer’s rented mansion in a suburb of celebrity-favorite Fort Lauderdale and arrested Turner over fraud and theft linked to the installation of a gigantic TV.

Advertisement

Kingston was arrested later the same day at Fort Irwin, a U.S. Army base in California’s Mojave Desert where he was performing, and charged with similar offenses at the state level. The pair made their first appearances in a federal court in Miami on Friday.

According to the federal indictment, the mother and son falsely claimed that they had executed electronic bank transfers and other payment transfers for high-end items when no such transactions had taken place.

Police said they then kept over $1 million worth of fraudulently purchased items despite not paying for them. From October 2023 to March this year, the pair allegedly defrauded nearly $500,000 worth of jewelry, more than $200,000 from the Bank of America, $160,000 from a Cadillac Escalade dealer, more than $100,000 from First Republic Bank, and $86,000 from the maker of customized beds.

Robert Rosenblatt, the lawyer representing Kingston and his mother, did not respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. He previously said they looked forward to addressing the charges and were “confident of a successful resolution.”

Jamaican-American performer Kingston had a number one hit with “Beautiful Girls” in 2007. He went on to collaborate with Justin Bieber on the song “Eenie Meenie.”