A former employee is being investigated by the Jamaica Constabulary Force for millions of dollars going missing from Sprint legend Usain Bolt’s investment account at a local company in Kingston.
On Thursday, the Jamaica Gleaner reported that the Sprinter’s stock and investments portfolio with a company named Stocks and Securities Limited had been tampered with, and the sprinter-turned-producer is now missing millions from his account.
Usain Bolt’s manager and best friend Nugent Walker told local media that the former athlete only found out about the missing money on Wednesday. He has not revealed how much money is missing, but the police have launched an investigation while one suspect, a former employee fired for fraud, has been implicated.
Reports on Thursday are that SSL called the police while the employee has reportedly retained the services of an attorney.
“All the relevant steps have been taken to come to the bottom of this,” Walker said as he pointed out that Financial Investigations Division (FID) and Financial Services Commission (FSC) has been made aware of the incident.
In the meantime, Walker said that Bolt has held an investment account with SSL for more than ten years, and the entire portfolio is being reviewed to see if there are more discrepancies.
In the meantime, the unidentified employee is said to be implicated in a massive fraud at the investment company that has a good reputation locally. That fraud also involves Bolt’s accounts. The employee is being represented by Attorney-at-law Tamika Harris, who told the Gleaner, “My client is in discussion with SSL and the lawyers representing SSL.”
The talks are said to be in their second week, the attorney said.
Usain Bolt is a four-time Olympic champion and has scored endorsement deals from the likes of Puma, Nike, and Gatorade. In 2013, he was named the seventh highest-paid athlete by endorsements. His current endorsements include Mumm, Hublot, and others.
Usain Bolt has not publicly addressed the development, but the artist’s fans speculated that many of his endorsement deals and his earnings as an Olympic athlete may well be part of that investment portfolio.
