Car dealer who swindled 17 persons out of nearly $30 million sentenced to time served

A businessman who pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges for failing to hand over nearly $ 30 million to 17 clients has been sentenced to the 15 months he already spent in custody awaiting trial.

Akeem Adamson, a licensed car dealer, was sentenced in the St Ann Parish Court today, weeks after he pleaded guilty to 17 counts of fraudulent conversion.

All 17 complainants either paid Adamson for the importation of motor vehicles they never got or gave him vehicles to sell, but never received any money.

He had two similar cases dismissed in the St James Parish Court in January last year after completing court-ordered mediation and agreeing to make restitution.

Donnovan Collins, the attorney who represented Adamson, said the presiding judge correctly gave his client credit for the time he spent in custody.

Further, Collins said the judge considered the objectives and principles of sentencing as outlined in case law, along with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Justice Administration Act, and arrived at “the appropriate sentence”.

“As such, we are of the view that the scales were balanced,” he said of the punishment imposed on Adamson.

- Livern Barrett

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