Laura WilesThe Serious Fraud Office has secured three convictions of former Ethical Forestry Limited directors, all of whom pleaded guilty in relation to a £70m investment scheme fraud.
The directors had defrauded around 3000 UK investors over a period of seven years, using false company names to cold call members of the public offering pension reviews. Call handlers encouraged people to withdraw their savings from legitimate pension schemes and invest funds in tree planting in Costa Rica.
While there were trees planted in Costa Rica, no funds were set aside for maintenance or to undertake commercial harvest, so investors’ money could never generate the promise returns from the harvest. Funds were instead withdrawn by the directors to fund property and vehicle purchases, and also to administer a tax avoidance scheme for the directors’ benefit.