Sean Kingston and His Mother Plead Not Guilty to Fraud Charges of Over $1 Million as They Demand Jury Trial

Sean Kingston and his mother, Janice Turner, have pleaded not guilty to all counts of fraud in excess of $1 million.

The pleas were accepted by the court at a hearing before Broward County Judge Ernest Kollr in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., on Monday, Aug. 26, while the legal team of Kingston (real name Kisean Anderson), 34, and Turner, 61, also demanded a jury trial as well as discovery from the state, PEOPLE can confirm. He was the first to announce the news Sun guardian.

The judge did not change bail previously set at $90,000, the newspaper reported, according to the Associated Press.

“When the true facts come out, we’re convinced they’re justified,” Robert Rosenblatt, one of Kingston’s attorneys, told PEOPLE.

Sean Kingston performs in Miami in June 2023.

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Sean Kingston and his mother face decades in prison after federal fraud charges

Last month, the U.S. Attorney’s office, Southern District of Florida, issued a press release confirming that a grand jury in Miami had indicted Kingston and Turner on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and five counts of wire fraud for their alleged “involvement in a scheme to defraud victims of sellers of high-end specialty vehicles, jewelry and other merchandise purchased by the defendants using false documents.”

According to the release, each defendant faces up to 20 years in prison on each count.

The department alleged that the mother-son duo “unjustly enriched themselves by falsely representing that they made a wire transfer or other money transfer payment” as payment for the goods “when in fact no such wire transfer or other money transfer payment was made to the purported bank.”

Sean Kingston is performing in Las Vegas in May 2022.

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Arrest warrants released by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office and previously reviewed by PEOPLE allege the duo stole nearly $500,000 worth of jewelry, $160,000 from an Escalade dealer, $86,000 from a custom bed manufacturer and more.

“Through the execution of this scheme, the defendants obtained assets in excess of $1 million,” said the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida.

Kingston was arrested on May 23 in California following an arrest and search warrant at a South Florida mansion he was renting. Earlier that day, his mother was arrested in Florida.

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Source: HIS Education