How scammers stole £70m from pensioners to spend on luxury cars, boats and houses
Three men who set up a £70 million investment scheme to defraud more than 3000 people out of their early-release pension pots have been jailed for a total of 15 years and nine months.
Matthew Pickard, 56, Stephen Greenaway, 47, and Paul Laver, 47 were company directors of the now defunct Ethical Forestry Limited, which operated from Bournemouth.
The business cold-called people offering them a pensions review, and then advised them to invest their life savings in tree plantations in Costa Rica, promising them millions in return for their investments.
But investigators found there were no plans to maintain or harvest the trees, so investors’ money could never generate the promised return.
• Subscribe to ITV News on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2lOHmNj
• Get breaking news and more stories at http://www.itv.com/news
Follow ITV News on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@itvnews?lang=en
Follow ITV News on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itvnews/
Follow ITV News on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itvnews/
Follow ITV News on X: https://twitter.com/itvnews