Usain Bolt’s legal professional, Linton P. Gordon, has issued a powerful rebuttal to media stories suggesting that a few of the dash legend’s funds have been by no means deposited into his account at Shares and Securities Restricted (SSL).
Gordon dismissed the allegations as “false, baseless, and completely with out credibility.” His remark comes within the wake of Bolt’s interview on The Repair podcast, the place the athlete voiced frustration over the dearth of updates within the investigation into how he misplaced tens of millions allegedly invested in SSL.
In a press release, shared by Bolt on his X (previously Twitter) web page on Friday, Gordon emphasised that every one funds lodged at SSL by Bolt’s firm, Welljen Restricted, have been transferred by way of financial institution transactions and acknowledged by the establishment in writing.
Moreover, Gordon famous that Ken Tomlinson, appointed by the Monetary Providers Fee (FSC) to handle SSL, discovered information confirming these lodgements and attested to them within the Supreme Court docket.
“Due to this fact, any suggestion that funds from Mr Bolt’s firm, Welljen Ltd, didn’t attain SSL is inaccurate and with out benefit. The notion that Mr Bolt was negligent in making these deposits is totally unfounded,” Gordon asserted.
To strengthen these factors, the legal professional identified that Prime Minister Andrew Holness, the Authorities of Jamaica, and a whole lot of Jamaican residents invested in SSL, an establishment which Gordon claimed, “was permitted and controlled by the federal government”.
“To recommend that Mr Bolt was careless, or lacked correct monetary administration, is to suggest the identical about each Jamaican who has invested in a government-approved monetary establishment,” Gordon argued.
Moreover, he mentioned the FSC issued SSL an annual licence to function as a monetary establishment.
“Each citizen has the fitting to depend on the federal government entity that’s answerable for assessing and regulating such establishments,” the legal professional said.
Gordon then took goal at these looking for to shift blame onto Bolt.
“There now seems to be an organised effort to shift blame onto The Honorable Usain Bolt for his loss when he’s responsible of nothing greater than investing within the nation that he loves.”
Gordon characterised this as a “textbook case of victim-blaming” and “an try and absolve the federal government of its failure to guard the general public and people defrauded by SSL.”
He added: “Much more regarding is the obvious try and silence victims and manipulate the narrative about who is really answerable for this large-scale fraud, which has left a whole lot of Jamaicans with out their hard-earned cash and no clear path to restoration.”
Gordon additionally expressed concern in regards to the authorities’s dealing with of the investigation.
He mentioned it seems info on features of the investigation has been shared “with a sure media home”, whereas maintaining victims like Bolt at midnight.
Gordon additional said that the outcomes of audits and investigations carried out by consultants from the US and the UK haven’t been shared with Bolt or his attorneys.
The veteran lawyer concluded by saying that the dash legend’s authorized crew is reviewing statements made about his (Bolt’s) account at SSL and can advise their shopper on accessible authorized actions.
On January 12, 2023, information broke that tens of millions of {dollars} reportedly went lacking from Bolt’s account at SSL, which subsequently led to a multi-agency fraud probe that resulted in Jean-Ann Panton, a former wealth advisor on the agency, being the only real individual to be charged to date.
Two years after the fraud was uncovered, Bolt gave his first public interview on the matter on Monday.
He mentioned regardless of conversations with Authorities officers, “nothing has materialised” with the case. He additional expressed his disappointment that the investigations have been ongoing for the previous two years with none signal of progress.
Since Bolt’s interview, there have been a number of developments, together with a media report on Friday suggesting that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, was able to proceed within the dash star’s case towards Panton.
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