Usain Bolt is accusing unnamed persons connected to SSL of running a public relations scheme to deflect from the massive fraud that occurred in the company in which almost US$13 million has been stolen from his company.
Usain Bolt’s reaction came late on Sunday as he reacted to comments made by former Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) Chief Executive Officer Zachary Harding, who said he was not aware of Bolt being a client of the company, raising doubts as to the Bolt’s claims.
Harding, in several interviews with local media, denied any involvement in the massive fraud being investigated by Jamaican Police and said he never knew that Usain Bolt was a client of the firm over the three years he spent at the helm of SSL.
Harding told Jamaica Gleaner over the weekend that he had worked at the investment form for three (3) years and quit early last year to start his firm called Delta Capital Partners Limited, an equity firm.
Harding, who is an advisor to Prime Minister Andrew Holness, has received major backlash as many try to understand how an employee could have been stealing millions of United States Dollars and dozens of millions of Jamaican dollars from client accounts as far back as 2010.
Statements he made in a Jamaica Gleaner interview have irked many Jamaicans, especially on social media, including Usain Bolt.
According to Harding, he was not aware, nor has he seen any documents that showed Bolt was an SSL client over the past decade.
“During my time at SSL, Usain Bolt’s name never came up once in a management meeting as a client of SSL. I had no knowledge whatsoever of any client relationship with Usain Bolt or any entity that he may have been a part of,” Harding was quoted by the Jamaica Gleaner saying.
The former was adamant, “it just never came up”, noting that because of Bolt’s status and the magnitude of the investments, he would have noticed.
On Sunday, Bolt appeared to react to the interview with another cryptic post.
“The real ones see through all the PR distractions. #Focus,” the sprinting legend posted alongside a photo of him gazing into the camera to Bounty Killer’s “Look Into My Eyes.”
The real ones see through all the PR distractions. #Focus
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) January 23, 2023
Look into my eyes, tell me what you see, can you feel my pain? Am I your enemy?~ BK pic.twitter.com/bC78bae6nz
— Usain St. Leo Bolt (@usainbolt) January 23, 2023
Days ago, the former Olympian turned music producer shared another post of him with all of his gold medals.
“Earned. Not Given.”
He also shared a photograph of several law books and laws of Jamaica in response to ongoing reports from SSL.
Meanwhile, the SSL saga is developing, with even more shocking reports coming out. According to Nationwide News on Monday, SSL’s co-founder Hugh Croskery is being sued by businessman George Chai, an investor who lost funds in the ongoing fraud confessed by former wealth manager Jean-Ann Panton.
Lawyers for the businessman applied for court orders to freeze two multimillion-dollar prime real estate properties located on the North Coast.
Separately, the Jamaica Police Force (JCF) is looking for the son of Hugh Croskery, Mark Croskery, who was fired as CEO in 2018 after a bitter feud with his father. It’s unclear the details regarding that feud, but the younger Croskery now own Croskery Capital Ltd, which was the lead firm that negotiated a media deal between Nationwide News Network and tech giant Amber Group.
In the meantime, Croskery’s sister Sarah Meany who operated in a senior role at SSL, has since resigned.
Bolt has given the company until January 27th to return his money or face legal consequences.
The Police have not announced any new developments, arrests, or persons of interest in this case, but the Jamaican people’s outrage has been shared widely and in the diaspora and matched by fans of Bolt worldwide. The international press has also gotten hold of the fraud, and there are reports that Jamaica’s international financial ratings abroad might be adversely affected due to the decreasing confidence experienced in the finance sector right now.
