KINGSTON, Jamaica -- World record holder Usain Bolt on Friday reaffirmed his love for Jamaica amid a fraud-scandal at the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) investment firm which saw the Olympian being fleeced of over US$12 million.
Bolt was speaking at the Gibson McCook Relays launch at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
“No matter what’s going on right now Jamaica is my country and that will never change and I will always love my country and will do everything in my power to uplift this country no matter what’s going on,” Bolt stated.
Linton Gordon, one of the attorneys representing Olympian Usain Bolt, on Thursday said the public should look out for the "expected and the unexpected" today — the deadline given to SSL to return the funds taken from the icon's account in what has now been found to be a massive fraud perpetrated for more than a decade.
"There is nothing to say at this stage, given what is happening. Let it stay until the day, because we have some delicate things dealing with. We have met with persons and we are dealing with certain matters," Gordon told the Jamaica Observer in a phone interview.
READ: SSL now on Bolt deadline
On January 16 Frater, Binns and Gordon, the law firm representing Bolt, had sent a letter to SSL demanding that US$12,758,181.74 — the reported balance in Bolt's account at October 31, 2022 — be repaid by January 27.
The attorneys also noted that only US$12,000 remained in the account.
Bolt is one of at least 40 SSL clients whose investments were totally or almost wiped out in the fraud estimated to be more than $3 billion so far.
Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke told the country that the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as forensic auditors from overseas, will assist local law enforcement agencies with a probe of the fraud.
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