A 78-year-old woman is in despair after learning that she’s not among the defrauded clients of Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) receiving payouts from a compensation fund, distribution for which began two Mondays ago.

The elderly woman, who spoke to the Jamaica Observer on condition of anonymity, said she lost her $60-million inheritance in the SSL débâcle. However, she said she was informed she would not be a beneficiary of the 4.5 per cent distribution from the SSL Victims’ Compensation Fund (VCF), which will ensure approved claimants recover a fraction of their losses at this point in time.

The reason for her exclusion, the elderly woman said, is because her funds had been placed in “junk bonds”, which are often referred to as high-yield bonds and carry higher risk, according to Investopedia.

“I put out a happy, smiling face to everybody, but I haven’t recovered…What’s going to happen to me? I know I have my kids, but…I just have this hopeless, helpless feeling because it’s all the money I had in the world,” she shared.

The woman said she inherited the money from her father’s business and, after weighing her options, chose to invest it with SSL. For about a year she received interest payments, but got a gut feeling to withdraw the money. She said her attempts to withdraw the funds were twice discouraged by the firm.

In January 2023 she woke up to news of the SSL scandal, which centres on an estimated $4.7-billion case of fraud that impacted more than 200 investors, including track icon Usain Bolt.

“I had to go to the doctor and get put on tranquillisers because it was very, very bad in the beginning. Any time it comes up it starts me up again, and I wonder why did I turn to SSL… But that is a question I can’t even answer myself,” she said.

According to the elderly woman, investigations revealed that her signature had reportedly been forged and her funds placed in “junk bond investments”, which, she said, she now understands has left her off the list of victims to benefit from the relief fund.

While acknowledging that junk bonds is not a characterisation provided by himself or, as far as he is aware, any member of the team engaged in the winding up of SSL, trustee Caydion Campbell explained to the
Sunday Observer that the VCF was established by majority vote of the attendees at the first meeting of creditors and claimants held on October 25, 2024.

“The objective of the VCF is to pay out funds recovered specifically to the victims of the fraud alleged to have been committed by former SSL employee Jean-Ann Panton,” Campbell said.

He said, too, that some of the clients who would consider themselves “SSL victims” are claimants with impaired investments, which is distinct from the specific victims of the alleged fraudulent activities of Panton.

“These claimants may have been given bad investment advice and/or their funds were invested in high-risk instruments that are not readily realisable, that is convertible to cash,” Campbell said. “These impaired investment instruments remain a part of the clients’ portfolios; however, any distribution is contingent on the actual realisation of these investments.

“These claimants with impaired investments are not entitled to a distribution from the SSL Victims’ Compensation Fund,” he added.

Campbell confirmed that, so far, approximately 47 claims have been identified as eligible for a payout.

“These represent claims for which there is strong indication of unauthorised withdrawals of actual cash from their client accounts relating to the fraudulent activities alleged to have been carried out by Ms Panton,” Campbell said.

But for claimants whose money is tied up in “impaired investments”, there is still no relief.

“Whilst efforts continue to see if there can be some realisations from these impaired investments, nothing has materialised to date. Therefore, no funds are available to make a distribution to these claimants with impaired investments,” the SSL trustee said.

Still, the elderly woman insists that more must be done to ensure accountability.