Messado fraud case set for trial next March

The trial for Jennifer Messado, the disgraced former attorney-at-law who is accused of defrauding dancehall entertainer Mavado millions of dollars, is set to take place next year.

"The new dates are March 1, March 2 and March 3," Oswest Senior-Smith, Mavado's lawyer told THE STAR.

Messado allegedly fleeced the entertainer out of more than $30 million in a 2017 real estate transaction. The disgraced lawyer was scheduled to stand trial for fraudulent conversion on September 12 but the matter was adjourned.

Mavado, who resides in the US, has applied for permission to give testimony via video. Senior-Smith did not confirm if Mavado would appear in person for the newly scheduled court dates.

"Mr Brooks' potential testimony is a little more than providing framework," Senior-Smith said, while adding that "from my perusal of the file, the critical witnesses are the two [individuals] who gave the accused lawyer the various sums on behalf of Mr Brooks."

The court, in deciding whether Mavado will be unable to give testimony via a remote video link, will consider whether there are warrants for his arrest in Jamaica.

In June 2018, the Constant Spring police issued a notice for Mavado to report to the police station for questioning in an "ongoing investigation" into violence in Cassava Piece, St Andrew. At the time of the notice being issued, Mavado was not in the country, having left three days earlier.

The entertainer last month blasted the Constant Spring Police Station on social media "for conspiring against me."

"The same police that locked my son up years ago, are also the same police that suddenly that came up with this warrant four years later... years ago when I left Jamaica, I left things in my lawyers' hands. My lawyers - both overseas and Jamaica - were in regular communication with the Jamaica Constabulary Force and there was never any mention of any outstanding warrants, nothing like that was said to my lawyers over a four-year period," Mavado said on Instagram.