American singer and rapper, Kisean Paul Anderson, known professionally as Sean Kingston, will be spending three and a half years in federal prison for his involvement in a million-dollar fraud scheme.

Along with his mother, the “Beautiful Girls” singer was convicted earlier this year in the scheme where they stole items including a bulletproof Cadillac Escalade, 232-inch LED TV and furniture said to be worth over $1 million (£738,000.)

In May, the 34-year-old was apprehended in California and was booked into Florida’s Broward County jail after waiving his right to challenge the extradition.

Ten criminal charges were listed against him by the judge, which included fraud, grand theft, and criminal use of personal identification during a bond hearing.

The same day he was arrested, the police raided his home in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, and apprehended his 61-year-old mother, Janice Turner.

At the time of his arrest, Kingston was on probation for trafficking stolen property. According to the Prosecutors, Kingston and his mother leveraged the rapper’s status to get products and send fake wire receipts during the period for payment.

Federal prosecutors said Kingston reached out to victims on social media, saying he wanted to purchase luxury goods and then invited them to his various homes in South Florida.

Kingston promised these victims to post their products on his social media and sometimes offered to refer their products to other "high profile celebrities", federal prosecutors said.

Authorities said most victims were never paid, though several did receive payment after law enforcement got involved or lawsuits were filed.

A key piece of evidence shown at trial were text messages between Kingston and his mother discussing the fake payment receipts, according to CBS, the BBC's news partner.

"I told you to make [a] fake receipt," he wrote in one.

Kingston's attorney Zeljka Bozanic said the singer was "a soft guy who grew up poor when he rose to fame overnight". He said Kingston still had the mentality of a teenager and didn't know how to run his bank accounts or business.

In court today, August 16, it is reported that Kingston apologised before the court provided its ruling. His mother, Janice Turner, was sentenced in July to five years in prison.

Kingston will begin serving his time immediately. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Rafael Barros of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), Miami Field Office, and Sheriff Gregory Tony of the Broward Sheriff’s Office (BSO) made the announcement.

USSS Miami and BSO investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Marc Anton and Trevor Jones prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at

under case number 24-cr-60126.

About Kingston

Kisean Paul Anderson (born February 3, 1990), known professionally as Sean Kingston, is an American singer and songwriter.

He signed with J. R. Rotem's label Beluga Heights Records to release his 2007 debut single, "Beautiful Girls", which peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.

Preceded by the song, his eponymous debut studio album (2007) peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, and spawned the top 40-single "Take You There".

His second album, Tomorrow (2009), was supported by the top five-single "Fire Burning", and met with moderate commercial response. He subsequently released his top twenty duet "Eenie Meenie" with Justin Bieber.

His third album, Back to Life (2013), failed to chart and served as his final release on a major label, but spawned the moderate hit single "Beat It" (featuring Chris Brown and Wiz Khalifa).

After his second album, Kingston launched the record label Time Is Money Entertainment, through which he signed then-unknown Canadian rapper Tory Lanez in 2010.