Eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt has run into a tricky financial situation, according to a number of reports. Bolt says that there are "millions" of dollars missing from his investment accounts managed by a firm called Stocks and Securities Limited. Now, the Financial Investigations Division and Financial Services Commission in Jamaica are both looking into Bolt's case to find out what happened to the money.
Nugent Walker, Bolt's manager, told Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner that the police have also been called and an investigation is underway:
"All the relevant steps have been taken to come to the bottom of this…He's been with this entity over 10 years…His entire portfolio is being reviewed."
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Walker isn't disclosing the precise sum of money involved, but the report says it's somewhere in the "millions" of dollars. One early lead in the investigation is said to be a former SSL employee that's been accused of widespread fraud. This unnamed employee has been implicated in other cases of fraud and could be involved in the sums missing from Bolt's accounts. The employee's attorney said that her client "is in discussion with SSL and the lawyers representing SSL," and has been for at least the last two weeks.
36-year-old Bolt has been retired since 2017, but he continues to enjoy very lucrative income from various endorsement deals. At the peak of his earnings he was among the highest paid athletes on the planet, earning far more from his endorsements than he (or anybody else for that matter) ever did on the track. His biggest single endorsement was reportedly a deal with Puma worth $9 million a year in exchange for wearing Puma shoes both on the track and off it. And he also does very well in appearance fees, taking home anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 to appear at track and field events throughout the world.
Hopefully for Bolt, the whereabouts of his missing investment funds will soon be found and restored to his accounts.
