Three fraudsters jailed after buying supercars and yacht in £70m tree-planting scam

Three directors of a tree-planting company have been jailed after running a £70m investment scam that duped thousands of people, including many pensioners, out of their savings.

Matthew Pickard was sentenced to six years in prison for fraudulent trading, while Stephen Greenaway got five years and three months, and Paul Laver received a jail term of four years and six months.

The trio, who had splashed out on luxury holidays, supercars and a yacht, were also disqualified from being directors for 10 years.

They convinced around 3,000 victims to invest their savings and pensions in Ethical Forestry Ltd (EFL), with promises of "huge" returns from a tree-planting operation in Costa Rica.

Victims were cold-called by EFL and had to invest a minimum of £10,000 to join the scheme, with one person putting in £200,000.

Around two million trees were planted in the Central American country using the funds, but nothing was put aside to maintain or harvest the saplings, meaning investors' money could never generate the returns they had been promised.

The victims were lured in between 2008 and 2015 as the trio were "hollowing out" the firm by withdrawing £14m through a tax avoidance scheme.

Victims watched their life savings disappear, with the defendants using the stolen millions to fund their luxury lifestyles.

"EFL's offer was an intoxicating blend of hard finance and ecological consciousness - invest with us, they claimed, and you can expect to make huge amounts of money and also make the world a better place," prosecutor Kevin Dent KC told Southwark Crown Court.

The directors "financially decimated" EFL with £14m taken out and £2.77m diverted to run the tax avoidance scheme, Mr Dent said. This in turn meant EFL had an extra £14m tax liability which it could not pay.

What did the defendants buy?

The men bought properties, holidays around the world in places like Italy, Thailand, Gran Canaria and the Maldives, and supercars, the court heard.

It was told that "evil" Pickard took £8.2m from EFL, Greenaway received £3.1m, and Laver took £2.5m.

• Pickard, 55, bought a £4.2m property in Poole, then spent almost £4m renovating it, including a new swimming pool and £30,000 on garden tiles.

He forked out £283,000 on a yacht, bought a £101,000 Maserati, spent £345,000 on private school fees, and went on a £47,000 holiday to a Swiss ski resort.

• Greenaway, 48, purchased a £1.9m home in Poole and spent £1.3m on 26 cars including three Ferraris, five Porsches and a £120,000 McLaren.

He also splashed out £85,000 on holidays and £58,662 on luxury watches and jewellery.

• Laver, 48, bought a home in Dorset, 16 cars worth £673,000, holidays and watches, and spent £29,709 on a home cinema.

The court heard Laver also spent $12,500 (£9,200) on a painting during a trip to Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

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When EFL collapsed in 2015 due to missing cash and a huge unpaid tax bill, investors lost their money, the court was told.

Victims were left relying on government handouts after their savings had been wiped out and some were at risk of losing their homes.

A Serious Fraud Office investigation led all three defendants to plead guilty to fraudulent trading in January ahead of a scheduled trial.

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