Businessman and Event Promoter Andrew Wright Sentenced to 10 Years and 7 Months in J$222 Million INSPORTS Fraud Case

Andrew Wright, the popular party promoter behind Chug It and French Connection, is now facing a drastically different spotlight after being sentenced to 10 years and seven months at hard labour for his role in the J$222 million INSPORTS fraud scheme — one of the largest corruption cases to hit Jamaica’s sporting sector.

Wright, a former financial controller at the Institute of Sports (INSPORTS), was sentenced on Friday, 21 November, in the Home Circuit Court, closing a years-long legal saga that exposed deep-rooted financial misconduct within the state-run institution. He was convicted on 13 counts of fraud, while former INSPORTS employees Rudolph Barnes and O’Neil Hope were convicted on 11 and eight counts, respectively. All three men participated in an elaborate scheme that involved preparing, signing, and cashing fraudulent cheques for “ghost” workers between 2011 and 2017 — resulting in millions being siphoned from the agency.

The investigation into INSPORTS began in 2017 after financial irregularities appeared during an internal audit. What started as quiet concerns later ballooned into a high-profile probe by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA), eventually unravelling a multi-year operation that prosecutors said was carefully orchestrated from inside the organisation. Wright, who simultaneously built his name in Jamaica’s entertainment landscape, maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings. In 2023, he was granted J$10 million bail, with his lawyers arguing that freezing his accounts removed any risk of interference.

However, Justice Ann-Marie Lawrence-Grainger ruled that the evidence proved otherwise, leading to the convictions delivered on 30 September 2025. Wright’s sentencing now marks a dramatic fall from grace for a businessman once seen as both an industry insider and a cultural tastemaker. Meanwhile, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) has confirmed it will move to seize any assets believed to have been obtained through criminal means, signalling that the financial reckoning is far from over.

With the fraud case finally reaching its conclusion, attention now turns to the broader impact on INSPORTS and whether deeper accountability measures will follow — especially as the organisation works to rebuild public trust after one of the most damaging corruption scandals in its history.

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