Popular party promoter Andrew Wright, also known as “Andrew French,” is one of six people accused in connection with the $222 million fraud that was allegedly committed at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS), and his bail hearing has been scheduled for July 13.
Bail had previously been denied for Wright, who was working as the state-run organization’s financial controller at the time of the suspected fraud.
In May of this year, bail of $500,000 was offered to Rudolph Barnes, Oneil Hope, Jonnique Mills, Andrea Picton, and Sherene Ferguson, who are his co-accused.
Wright’s attorney, Peter Champagnie, told the presiding judge during court proceedings in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston last week that he intended to submit a new bail application on behalf of his client.
Wright was kept in custody until the application’s hearing was scheduled for July 13 at that point. The subject was then scheduled for a plea and case management hearing on September 25.
Bail was increased for the five more defendants till then.
The six suspects are said to have been a member of a group of current and former INSPORTS employees who reportedly wrote, signed, and paid phony checks for payees who weren’t the company’s employees or contracted labor.
According to the police, the allegedly fraudulent operations took place between 2011 and 2017.
INSPORTS discovered the alleged fraud and other inconsistencies in 2017 when reviewing the organization’s financial records.
The Major Organized Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) was then notified of the situation, which started an investigation.
Wright, Hope, and Barnes were the first group of suspects to face charges in connection with the crime. They were accused of a number of offenses, including stealing while a servant, acquisition, use, and possession of illicit property, as well as conspiracy to commit fraud.
Later, Jonnique Mills and Andrea Picton, the latter of whom was working for INSPORTS at the time, were detained by MOCA and accused of conspiring to commit fraud.
In addition, Mills is accused of forgery.
The court was informed in April that extradition requests for three further unnamed suspects who are now living abroad were being prepared.
