Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Downfall of Sean Kingston

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

The Sean Kingston scandal centers on a significant federal fraud case involving the singer and his mother, Janice Turner. In May 2024, a SWAT team raided Kingston's rented mansion in South Florida, arresting Turner and seizing numerous items. Kingston was later arrested in California on related charges. Both were indicted on multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy, accused of defrauding businesses through fraudulent means

This is your fix. I am your host, Stasi Schroeder. Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast. What's the most unhinged thing of season three? Stephen, because he's so evil. I do think he is misunderstood. You see everyone base consequences. It's intoxicating.

The writers just know how to trick you. There's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies, the official podcast, January 6th, and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies, January 13, on Hulu, and Hulu on Disney Plus. So Justin Bieber somehow got pulled into this million dollar fraud scheme. And it all starts with this guy, Sean Kingston. And Sean is 17, living in Florida, and he has big dreams of becoming a rich and famous music artist. And one day in 2007, he makes that happen.

He lands a record deal and he releases his first ever single, Beautiful Girls. You know that song, it goes, Beautiful Girls. You know that one. And suddenly, kaboom, it blows up and it's a massive hit. It goes double platinum and the music video gets over a billion views on YouTube. And that is when his whole life changes. I mean, he's still a teenager and he's being treated like a star and it feels good. And so in 2010, he releases another song, this one with Justin Bieber.

And this one blows the f*** up too. That same year, he gets a guest spot on a popular Disney channel show. And so now he's hanging out with huge celebrities making millions of dollars. He even buys a diamond crayon necklace reportedly worth a half million dollars that he loved showing off. Not to mention all his designer bags. And of course, lots and lots of luxury cars. And so, as you can imagine, over time, Sean gets very comfortable with this new luxurious lifestyle. And he really likes to spend his money, but you know, that's fine.

He's making millions and he can buy whatever he wants and no one can stop him Until Years go by and Sean keeps releasing music and he keeps trying to replicate his previous success But he can't seem to do it Audiences have moved on and his songs aren't really popping off and his shows just aren't selling like they used to And that's fine. It's normal But this is a problem for Sean I mean he isn't ready to give up the celebrity lifestyle? He doesn't want to give up the fancy cars or the special treatment

or the jewelry. And most importantly, he doesn't want to give up all that money. And so, Sean comes up with a plan that will allow him to hang on to that baller lifestyle he's been living for so many years. He'll just stop paying for shit. And in order to enact this plan, he gets help from this woman, his mom, who will call Mama Kingston. And Mama Kingston, she's gotten used to Sean celebrity lifestyle too. So she doesn't want to give it up either. And she just happens to have gone to prison before for committing a little something called bank fraud. And so she knows a little something something about not paying for shit. And so one day, Sean goes to a local jewelry store and he finds a watch he really likes. A watch worth $285,000. And so he talks to the jeweler like,

Yeah, I'm a celebrity. You might know me from a song I did with Justin Bieber. And Sean starts dropping Bieber's name into this, telling the jeweler that he'll introduce him to Justin Bieber, and that he'll have him at all his red carpets and his video shoots. And of course, Bieber, he doesn't talk to Sean anymore. He probably hasn't talked to him in years. And he has no idea his name is being used in this. Regardless, the jeweler is totally starstruck.

Like, wow, you know the beeps? And so Sean offers to pay for this. watch with a wire transfer. He then texts Mama Kingston and has her make a fake receipt from the bank making it look like the wire transfer went through. And the mom sends that fake receipt to the jeweler and Sean gets the watch. Now the jeweler thinks the payment will come through in a few days because wire transfers usually take a few days. But of course, the money never comes through. And as stupid as that is, this scam works. In fact, it works so well that Sean and Mama Kingston, pull it again. And in 2017, Sean reaches out to another jeweler, this guy who will call

AP. And so Sean has a driver pick AP up and he brings him to Sean's mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Because, you know, Sean's going to buy some jewelry from him. And Sean and Mama Kingston are there and AP's looking around at the place like, damn, your house is nice. And Sean's like, yeah, you know, I'm a celebrity. And he drops Bieber's name again. Like, you know, Justin Bieber's my best friend and you know I'll introduce you and then AP shows Sean some watches and some chains that he has with him and Sean wants five hundred thousand dollars worth and he takes the jewelry and then he pays him half up front and then he's like hey I'm about to sell my range rover why don't you take it and deduct it from my

tab and the range rover is actually in Mama Kingston's name so she transfers the title over to AP then Sean's like I'll get you the rest of the money after I come back from performing in Jamaica so just chill in my mansion until I get back and so then Sean leaves and he goes to Jamaica and AP is just like living there in his house I guess for a few days and at some point AP he's there and he's just like chilling on the couch and some random people just come inside the house and it's a woman and she's showing people around and AP's like what the fuck are you doing in Sean's house and the lady's like who the hell are you I told Sean and his mom, everybody was supposed to be out by today.

And AP's like, what do you mean? And she's like, Sean doesn't own this house. This is an Airbnb. And to make it worse, then AP finds out that the Range Rover Sean sold him still has money due on it. So it wasn't even Sean's car to sell. The entire transfer was a scam. And believe it or not, AP never sees or hears from Sean ever again.

Oh, but Sean's not done scamming yet because it's now 2023. And he lives in a big new mansion in Florida. And one day he thinks, hmm, you know what would go really well with all this jewelry? A big ass TV. And this is where he really screws up. Because Sean DMs a custom TV company on Instagram and he tells them he wants a 232 inch TV, which is big enough to cover an entire wall in his house. And so this TV company crew comes over to his huge mansion, which Sean again pretends to own even though he's actually renting it.

But anyway, they got this humongous TV worth $150,000. This is actually a picture of it. And of course, Sean is talking to these guys and he drops Justin Bieber's name again. Like, oh, you know, you might know me from my song with Justin Bieber. And he tells these guys to install this TV for only a small down payment, and the the rest, he'll pay on credit. And if they do this, he says that his close friend, Justin Bieber, will come and do commercials for them. As if Justin Bieber is just going to like stop touring or whatever he's doing and come do commercials for a local TV company in Florida. But whatever,

I guess these guys believe him and they trust his word and they're like, hi. But then, later, the company reaches out to Sean about making further payments on this TV and he starts bullshy Like, oh yeah, come over to my house and I'll give you a check for the rest. Then when the guys arrive, Sean doesn't answer his door. And this nonsense goes on for several months. And eventually, this TV company realizes that they've been scammed. And so, boom, they file a lawsuit against him. Oh, and they aren't the only ones.

In fact, multiple jewelers sue him as well. Because he and his mom at this point have stolen so much from so many. people, an $80,000 custom bed, $160,000 escalade, apparently a million dollars in watches alone. And because fraud is, you know, illegal, the police get involved. And in 2024, boom, a SWAT team raids his house. And they start taking all his stuff and like hauling his cars away. And then, bam, they arrest Mama Kingston. Here's her mugshot.

Meanwhile, Sean is on the other side of the country performing, and right when he gets off stage at this show, bam, they arrest him too. Here's his mugshot. And they both go to trial, and they're found guilty, and as of the date of me filming this video, they have not been sentenced yet, but they both face up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud. So they could be in there for a really long time. Thank you.