Track and field legend Usain Bolt, defrauded out of much of his savings, said he has been kept in the dark by investigators overseeing the probe into the scandal-ridden investment firm that stole more than $30 million — some 4.7 billion Jamaican dollars — from more than 30 clients, including the eight-time Olympic champion.
“(Dr. Nigel) Clarke (Jamaica’s minister of finance and the public service) announced that investigators were coming from Canada, England from Timbuktu and from the United States,” Bolt’s lawyer, Linton Gordon, told The Gleaner. “We haven’t had one iota of information regarding the outcome of those investigations. So, we don’t know who took the money, who we can turn to, because everything is now under cover.”
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/UnrGSQpqXRc?si=4VjRM0VZ8mLBEjiG” title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen></iframe> world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009. (Photo by Mustafa Yalcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
It was in January 2023 when Clarke announced that investigators, led by the Financial Investigations Division, were “resolute and determined” to unravel the complex scheme orchestrated by Stocks and Securities Limited and bring those responsible to justice.
Clarke said the SSL scandal risked staining Jamaica’s reputation globally. But nearly two years later, bilked investors are still waiting for answers.
Bolt, whose world records in the 100 meters and 200 meters still stand since he set them in 2009, was robbed of $12.7 million. Fans wondered if he was hinting at a conspiracy after reading a series of puzzling quotes posted by the Jamaican icon to his social media accounts this week.
“They banking on the country youth love for his country but ask yourself, do they love their country or themselves,” he wrote. In another post, he complained about “fake news” regarding a report of an SSL payout and opined, “Time is longer than rope,” a Jamaican adage which, according to The Gleaner, advises patience while waiting for your moment.
“He’s simply shocked and disappointed to know a country he has put on the map, and he put his money in an institution here, that he has lost it or he can’t get it back,” Gordon said.
Welljen, Bolt’s holding company, opened his account with SSL with an initial investment of $6.2 million. In a lawsuit filed against SSL and Jean-Ann Panton, a former manager at the firm, Bolt said the funds were for his retirement.
“What we want to know is, who took the money …?” Gordon said.
Panton is the only person to be charged. She faces a 21-count indictment after being charged with forgery, larceny as a servant, and engaging in a transaction involving criminal property.
Panton initially expressed regret for her role in the scandal, declaring in a statement that she knowingly stole the money “over the course of several years.”
She said she used “various mechanisms to take money from clients” and “created false statements to provide to the clients reflecting what they should have in their accounts and not the sum actually had in their accounts.”
But a few months later she changed her story, saying she only confessed to the crime because her former boss, Hugh Croskery, the company’s founder, promised he would make it worth her while if she were to take the fall.
Croskery denies any quid pro quo.
In March, Jamaica’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions announced it has not decided whether further charges are forthcoming in the fraud case.
Last week, SSL indicated that it is moving ahead with plans to reimburse its clients, The Gleaner reported.
