Woman charged in Bolt fraud case

The former employee of the investment firm, Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), Jean Ann Panton, has been remanded in custody until Friday, Feb. 24 after she appeared in the Supreme Court on Friday, Feb. 18 on several charges arising from the multi-million dollar fraud at the company whose clients included eight-time Olympic champion Usain Bolt.

The Financial Investigations Division (FID), which confirmed that Bolt had been defrauded of US$ 12.7 million, said that Panton has been charged with breaches of the Larceny Act, the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA), the Forgery Act and  the Cyber Crimes Act.

Her attorney, in making an application for bail had submitted that her client cannot walk and is unable to stand. However, a medical report that was submitted did not indicate that.

She had earlier this week been interviewed by investigators in the presence of her attorney after searches were conducted on two premises connected to her on Jan. 20.

This resulted in the seizure of documents and electronic devices to include telephones which, along with other evidence, continue to be thoroughly analyzed, said the FID, which is being assisted in its investigations by Police Fraud Squad, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies.

“As indicated in a previous communication, the case is complex for three main reasons; the number and types of accounts affected; the number and types of transactions conducted on the affected accounts; and the length of time (over a decade) during which questionable actions were taken against some of the affected accounts,” the FID said in its statement.