Three former directors of Ethical Forestry Limited have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a £70m pension investment fraud scheme, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has announced.

Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway and Paul Laver, all from Bournemouth, were sentenced to a combined 15 years and nine months in prison, after being convicted of fraudulent trading earlier this year.

Pickard received a six-year prison sentence, while Greenaway and Laver were jailed for five years and three months, and four years and six months respectively. All have been disqualified from acting as directors for 10 years.

The fraud scheme ran for seven years and affected more than 3,000 people, many of them pensioners.

The SFO said its investigation found that the directors operated a Bournemouth-based call centre that encouraged people to transfer money from their pension schemes into a tree planting operation in Costa Rica.

Investigators noted that employees used false company names, such as Richmond Solutions and the Pension Report Service, when contacting potential investors to gain victims’ trust before encouraging them to transfer savings to the scheme.

Although trees were planted, the SFO said insufficient provision was made for their maintenance and harvesting, meaning the investment could not deliver the returns promised to investors.

The SFO also found that millions of pounds were diverted for the directors' personal use, including property purchases, while £2.77m of investors’ money was used to administer a tax avoidance scheme for their benefit.

Commenting on the sentencing, Serious Fraud Office director, Graham McNulty QPM, said: “These former directors preyed on people’s good intentions to support a ‘green’ investment, stealing £70m from hard-earned life savings and pensions.

“Our thorough investigation exposed this fraudulent scheme, and the strength of our evidence led us to secure three guilty pleas, resulting in today’s sentence.

“This is an important step towards justice.”

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