Usain Bolt Seeks Court Order To Determine Whether Accused SSL Embezzler Has Been “Moving Assets At Jamaican Banks”

Sprint legend Usain Bolt’s attorneys have sought a court order for the lone accused in the alleged fraud at Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL), which saw US$12 million being embezzled from him, to disclose whether she has been “moving assets at two of Jamaica’s banks”.

The request comes four months after the law firm, in an official letter to the manager at SSL, gave the institution an ultimatum to repay the monies by Friday January 27, 2023, failing which, they had promised to “take all legal actions” against the company and its directors, including civil and criminal procedures.

The application is being made by Welljen, Bolt’s holding company, which is named after his parents Jennifer and Wellesley Bolt and which he had used to open an account at the private investment and brokerage firm in 2012.

Welljen’s application will be heard tomorrow morning in the Supreme Court, according to The Gleaner.

Bolt’s attorneys, Frater Ennis & Gordon, are seeking for the accused woman, Jean-Ann Panton, to reveal any transactions involving the financial institutions to reinforce a freezing order they obtained against her assets in February, The Gleaner has reported.

According to the newspaper, the order provides for any asset owned by Panton, up to “the amount of US$6 million-plus to be frozen”. Additionally, a production order had been made for her to provide a statement of all her assets, including real estate holdings, shares and stocks.

The SSL had reported the $3-billion fraud, which was committed against the Clockwork producer and 39 other people, to the Financial Services Commission on January 10, after taking a statement from a person described as an implicated ex-employee on January 7.  

At the time, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke, had said that based on preliminary updates, some elderly investors have also been defrauded, among them an 87-year-old widow as well as a childhood friend of the alleged perpetrator.

As for Bolt, his account value had plunged from US$12.7 million in October 2022 to US$12,000 in January when he checked, following an alert from Panton, Bolt’s legal team has reportedly said.

In the signed confession by Panton dated January 7, 2023, she admitted that she “used various mechanisms to take money from clients” and that she “created false statements to provide to the clients reflecting what they should have in their accounts and not the sum they actually had in their accounts” and that she embezzled the money “over the course of several years”, according to The Gleaner report.

According to the report, the statement, named 39 clients whose accounts had a total value of over $700 million.   Of this sum, Panton said she took approximately 20 percent, in addition to $109 million more.   However Welljen was not mentioned on the list and the investment firm had said in a follow-up statement that it was unaware that the portfolio was affected.

Since the news broke of the embezzlement of Bolt’s money, several of his Dancehall compatriots have weighed in on the matter.

Coolie Dance producer Skatta Burrell, in expressing how ashamed he was about the entire fiasco, had called for Jamaicans to desist from glorifying scamming and the theft of other people’s property, noting that taking people’s hard-earned income must not be exalted nor celebrated.

Usain Bolt’s close friend, singer Christopher Martin, had proclaimed to the track icon that the Almighty would ensure that his money is returned.

Singjay Ce’Cile had also addressed the matter, rebuking persons who promote scamming, while declaring that fraudsters are all the same, irrespective of social class. 

“Uptown and downtown choppa is the same choppa. You shouldn’t be allowed to steal people’s hard earned money,” she had said.

Ghetto Story artiste Cham too, in an Instagram video recording, had declared that Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Minister of Finance Dr. Nigel Clarke ought to release a statement regarding the scam against Usain, and seek to have his money returned. 

However, deejay Devin Di Dakta had come out in opposition to Cham’s statement, labelling it selective outrage, while declaring that Bolt ought not to be given preferential treatment over other investors whose monies have been fleeced.