Lawyers Representing Usain Bolt Granted Court Order in SSL Fraud Case

Kemar TomlinsonJune 1, 2023

As Usain Bolt continues his lengthy legal fight in order to get back his missing millions, his lawyers have obtained a court order requiring Jean-Ann Panton to disclose whether she has been moving assets from two banks in Jamaica. The banks that are required to disclose the information have not been named.

According to the court order, two banks must disclose the transaction history of accounts owned by Jean-Ann Panton who was the only person charged in the $3 billion fraud at Stocks and Securities Limited. Almost $2 billion was allegedly stolen from Bolt’s company, Bolt and Welljen Limited, by Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL).

In a court ruling yesterday, Supreme Court Justice Cresencia Brown Beckford granted Bolt and Welljen Limited’s request for the court order, according to Frater Ennis & Gordon, who represents the company. In 2012, the sprint legend opened an account at the private investment and brokerage firm SSL under the name of his holding company, Welljen.

Approximately US$6 million-plus in Panton’s assets will be frozen under the court order. Panton had also been ordered to provide a statement of all of her assets, including her real estate holdings, shares, and stocks, under the production order issued by the court.

Bolt’s legal team alleges that Welljen’s account value plunged from J$2 billion in October 2022 to J$1.8 million when he checked it in January following Panton’s alert.

Two cases are being heard concurrently in the courtroom – Welljen’s case, alongside the suit that investor Jean Forde filed against SSL and several other defendants, which includes Panton and SSL’s founder Hugh Croskery. In her lawsuit, Forde claims she was defrauded of US$830,000.

Panton has recently claimed that she was coerced into confessing to the fraud crimes by her former employers, who made her an undisclosed offer.