The lawyers of retired sprinter Usain Bolt are threatening the investment group Stocks and Securities Ltd (SSL) with legal action after the Jamaica Observer reported that over $12 million was stolen from Bolt’s SSL retirement account.
SSL, a Jamaica-based firm, issued a statement last Thursday saying that a former employee committed “fraudulent activity” and stole over $1.3 billion in total from more than 30 SSL investors’ accounts.
A Jamaica Observer source said SSL was aware of the fraud since August, but the employee committing the fraud had remained with the company until last Wednesday.
Bolt opened the SSL account in 2012 and invested almost $10 million into it without ever making a withdrawal. The account compounded to a value of $12.7 million USD but now holds just $12,000.
Bolt’s attorney Linton Gordon sent a letter to the SSL on Monday demanding that the firm return the $12.7 million by January 27 or face legal action.
“If this is correct, and we are hoping it is not, then a serious act of fraud, larceny, or a combination of both, have been committed against our client,” Gordon wrote.
Bolt took to Twitter on Tuesday, writing, “In a World of Lies…Where is the Truth?” presumably expressing his frustration with losing the money.
While it’s a crushing blow to the eight-time Olympic gold medalist, Bolt’s net worth is estimated to be around $90 million, according to CelebrityNetWorth. On top of this, the “fastest man of all time” is arguably the most marketable track and field star alive, inking endorsement deals with Puma, Samsung, Gatorade and Virgin Media. He even appears as a character in the popular phone game Temple Run 2.
In 2016 alone, he made $32.5 million from endorsements.
Bolt should have no problem recovering financially from this investment fraud — even in retirement, he can rake in thousands of dollars from appearance fees at events. In a sport where many athletes struggle to scrape by on professional contracts, Bolt appears to be set up for the foreseeable future.
