Jamaica has been dealing with a huge scamming problem for over a decade, however, the recent defrauding of a substantial amount of Usain Bolt’s wealth, has even the island’s prime minister fuming with disgust.
Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, was alerted of the fleecing of millions of dollars from the sprint legend’s Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) by a wealth advisor.
“I do not know what to with these Scamaicans, it’s like scamming people is in their blood,” Holness told his finance minister, Nigel Clarke, according to a person who was present as the briefing.
“Might as well I just rename the country to Scamaica so people understand what they are dealing with when money and Jamaica is in the same discussion,” the Prime Minister joked, according to the source.
Sources say Usain Bolt is worried that he might not be able to recover the millions he was defrauded of.
Bolt is among more than 30 people whose investments at SSL are believed to have been fleeced by a wealth advisor.
Last Thursday SSL issued a statement saying that it had “become aware of fraudulent activity by a former employee of the company”.
The company said that following initial internal investigations it “referred the matter to the relevant law enforcement authorities to facilitate a thorough and complete examination of all aspects of the matter”. Added the company, “To ensure this, we have taken steps to secure those assets and strengthened internal protocols to detect suspicious activity in the shortest time possible.” The company also said it would “continue to liaise and cooperate fully with law enforcement throughout this investigation and ensure that the responsible party faces the full consequence of the law”.
After Bolt’s team brought the matter to the attention of SSL, the company revealed that it had been doing an investigation into other matters to which the employee allegedly “confessed”, but until then the company was not aware that Bolt had also been affected.
Bolt, the source said, opened the account in 2012 and never made a withdrawal. He is said to have invested just under US$10 million. However, the source stated that only US$2,000 remains in the account.
Late last Thursday the Financial Services Commission (FSC) said it has issued directions to SSL barring it from engaging in sales or trading of assets without the permission of the FSC.
“These directions are a supervisory tool to allow the FSC to engage an entity in a process of enhanced oversight,” the regulator said.
“In the case of SSL, this enhanced oversight reflects the need for the FSC to have a full view of the integrity of the transactions being conducted, including the movement of funds and of securities into and out of SSL.”
The FSC also said it will continue its investigations into matters related to SSL.
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