Sham leader is out of control (9)
I believe the answer is:
imitation
'sham' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for imitation that I've seen before include "produced by copyist?" , "it's not for real" , "Bogus" , "Mock -- ersatz" , "Unoriginal" .)