Five months after Jean-Ann Panton confessed to using various mechanisms to fleece money from clients at Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL), she is now claiming that she was persuaded by her boss and the company's founder, Hugh Croskery, to confess.
Ms Panton, a former client relationship manager, made the claim in her defence in a lawsuit brought against her and nine others by an investor, Jean Forde.
Mr Croskery is listed as the third defendant in the suit.
In her defence, Ms Panton said the background of the alleged confession was premised on an offer made by Mr Croskery on behalf of the first defendant, SSL.
In the document filed in the Supreme Court on May 25, Ms Panton said the offer was an inducement and the statement would not have been made otherwise.
She is challenging the claimant to strictly prove the validity of the alleged confession statement and allegations according to law.
According to the signed confession statement dated January 7, 2023, which was made to SSL as part of an internal investigation, Ms Panton named 39 clients whose accounts had a total value of almost $3 billion.
She said she took approximately 20 per cent from the amounts stated for each account, in addition to a further $109 million.
An account in the name of Welljen Limited, a holding company owned by sports great Usain Bolt, was not mentioned on the list, and SSL said in a subsequent statement that it had been unaware that the portfolio was affected.
Bolt's account value plummeted from US$12.7 million in October 2022 to US$12,000 in January.
Welljen has also sued SSL.
In her suit, Ms Forde, who is 80 years old, is alleging she was defrauded of US$830,000.
Both matters, which are being heard together, are scheduled to be mentioned in the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
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