The Corporate Area man who was charged with obtaining money by false pretence and fraudulent conversion, receiving cash above $1 million after he used the name of Portland Western Member of Parliament Daryl Vaz to con people out of more than $4 million on Thursday pleaded guilty in the St Andrew Parish Court.

Shawn Latham, a 35-year-old merchandiser of Kingston 19, is to be sentenced on November 18 and was instructed by the judge to ensure he makes full restitution before then.

The court was told that Latham, through phone calls and text messages, told the complainants that he was Vaz and he had connections with an upcoming motor vehicle auction at Kingston Wharf.

The complainants reportedly shelled out their money to him for motor vehicles but later became suspicious and reported the matter to the police.

The Kingston West Police Proactive Investigation Unit then staged a sting operation in which Latham was held while he was collecting money from one of the complaints.

“On the first day of the trail he turned up and entered a guilty plea on the charge of obtaining money by false pretence, so the other charges against him the prosecution offered no evidence on those as he already pleaded guilty on the main charge,” said an Observer source.

“It was more than one complainant, but some of the people shied away and only some of the people who were scammed were willing to follow it to the end,” added the source.

Following the guilty plea by Latham, Vaz, who was in court, commended the complainants who saw the case through, as well as the investigating officers.

“In my more than 30 years in public life there have been several attempts to smear my name and I was prepared to see this one through. I was told that based on my statement I would not be needed in court, but I wanted to see this scammer punished,” Vaz told the Observer.

“I am determined to defend my good name and my integrity, so I am glad that the law has caught up with someone who impersonated me and used me to defraud people,” added Vaz.