A London court sentenced two former directors of a green investment scheme on 15 June to 11 years each for defrauding investors out of nearly £37m through the promotion of a Brazilian forestry scheme.
Andrew Nathaniel Skeene (44) and Junie Conrad Omari Bowers (45) were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court, the Serious Fraud Office said in a statement on 15 June.
In May this year the SFO secured the convictions of Skeene and Bowers on three counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of misconduct in the course of winding up a company.
Bowers and Skeene were behind Global Forestry Investments, a fraudulent green investment scheme which scammed around 2,000 investors out of their savings and pensions.
They encouraged victims to invest in three Brazilian teak tree plantations, claiming they were secure, well-managed, ethical investments that would help protect the Amazon rainforest and support local communities. In reality, little-to-nothing was happening on the ground and the pair enriched themselves with the finances they received.
During the schemes' operation, Skeene and Bowers collectively withdrew around £750k in cash and spent a further £2 million on retail, luxury and entertainment. Mr Skeene also used investors' money to fund his own lavish wedding and Mr Bowers bought a Bentley Continental GT.
Judge Pegden QC said: "The investors believed that they were buying into an ethical investment scheme which would yield a safe and steady income. But the reality was that you wrote or said things about the schemes which were either false or misleading at the outset or became so, and you failed to correct them."
The Judge highlighted the "serious detrimental impact" the schemes had on investors including some victims being prevented from retiring and suffering "prolonged distress and mental anguish".
The Judge commended the "exceptional investigatory work" of two SFO investigators, highlighting the "invaluable analysis" by Richard Middleditch of the extensive communications between the defendants and the meticulous money tracing exercise performed by Richard Mills MBE.
Lisa Osofsky, director of the Serious Fraud Office, said: "Today's sentencing warns fraudsters that if they choose to play fast and loose with others' hard-earned savings or pensions, we will pursue them and they will be held accountable for their crimes.
"This is the first of seven cases we are taking to trial this year. Over the next six months we will prosecute a further 18 defendants for alleged fraud, valued at over £500 million."
