Green harvest scammers jailed

Ethical Forestry Ltd directors sentenced today for 70 million pound fraud

The Serious Fraud Office has reported three directors of Ethical Forestry Ltd have been sentenced to prison after they stole £70 million from 3,000 investors, many pensioners, by promising Costa Rican forestry returns while funding incredible luxury lifestyles.

Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway, and Paul Laver, all from Bournemouth, have been sentenced to a combined 15 years and nine months in prison for orchestrating a seven-year scam. All three were also disqualified from acting as directors for ten years.

The investigation ran by the Serious Fraud Office found that Ethical Forestry Ltd used call centre staff to cold call potential customers and persuaded them to investing their pensions into tree planting operations in Costa Rica. Staff used false names and did not disclose their employer to the victims. Trees were planted yet no funds were provided to maintain or harvest the trees, meaning the funds would never accumulate returns promised. They preyed on good intentions of investors in a green policy investment. Whilst investors were plentiful, totalling £70 million worth of financing. The company directors used £2.77 million to administer a tax avoidance scheme, £1.9 million to purchased a home for Greenway and Pickard purchased a £4.3 million house in Sandbanks, luxury holidays and supercars were the norm. All three directors pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading and were sentenced today.