Usain Bolt is, by most measures, the greatest sprinter ever. He holds multiple records, including the fastest 100-meter run in history (he also has the second-fastest time, for good measure). Bolt's impressive performances made him a legend within the sport, a star in the Olympics, and a great endorsement partner for multiple brands, including Puma, Gatorade, and Virgin Media.
Those on-track skills and that business savvy have combined to make Bolt the highest-earning sprinter ever. Naturally, he invested some of that money to grow his wealth. As of Halloween night, 2022, Bolt had $12.7 million in an account with the investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL).
Unfortunately, that money almost entirely disappeared after a now-former employee allegedly ran a fraudulent scheme, stealing millions of dollars from multiple accounts. The ex-employee alerted Bolt about his lost money on January 11. And now Bolt is suing SSL after learning he has only $12,000 left in his investment account.
In other words, Bolt has lost nearly $12.7 million in less than two and a half months.
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SSL claims it learned of the fraud in early January and alerted investors after making that discovery. The Financial Services Commission temporarily took control of the institution, yet it's had control of SSL in the past and called it a "problem institution." An agency report from February 2017 noted "a culture of non-compliance and mismanagement of client funds" within SSL.
This clearly isn't the first time the company has been in hot water. As a result, Bolt is the latest athlete to fall victim to someone mishandling their money.
Bolt's lawsuit was issued on January 16. In it, he demanded the money in his account be reinstated within the next ten days.
We'll see what kind of effort (if any) SSL gives in trying to recover Bolt's money. But this story is a great reminder for athletes—and all of us, really: Remember to diversify your investments. It's a lot less painful to lose some of your money than it is to lose all of it.
