The Financial Services Compensation Scheme has so far paid out almost £50m in compensation to victims of the Ethical Forestry Limited investment fraud.
Three fraudsters behind the scam were jailed last week for a total of 15 years and nine months.
The FSCS does not normally reveal individual scam compensation payouts, but the figure was published in a liquidators’ report on the Bournemouth-based business, which cheated more than 3,000 people out of their life savings.
The report revealed that the FSCS paid out £48,865,748.43 to approximately 2,181 investors who ended up as victims of the scam. That works out at an average £22,405 per victim, slightly higher than the average compensation payout made by the FSCS last year.
The liquidators also revealed that they were, “unable to confirm whether there will be sufficient funds realised after defraying the expenses of the Joint Liquidators, to pay a dividend to unsecured creditors.” These include creditors who have not been compensated as they were direct and/or cash investors in the Ethical Forestry business.
The liquidators advised: “If you acted on advice from an IFA or other authorised firm to purchase the investment or were advised to transfer money out of a defined benefit pension scheme in order to invest in unsuitable products, then you may be eligible to claim compensation.”
Liquidators were appointed to run the affairs of Ethical Forestry Limited in January 2016 when the business collapsed. The firm’s directors ran a Bournemouth-based call centre to promote a scheme where members of the public were cold-called and persuaded to withdraw funds from their pensions to invest into a tree-planting operation in Costa Rica. SIPPs were used as the pension transfer vehicle in some cases.
While some trees were planted in Costa Rica using the funds, nothing was set aside to maintain or harvest the saplings which meant investors' money could never generate the returns they had been promised, the SFO said.
Instead the directors splashed out millions of pounds on luxury lifestyles, including high-end sports cars and luxury holidays across Europe and Asia including a £4.3m property in Sandbanks, Poole.
The SFO said the directors amassed personal collections of high-end sports cars, including a Maserati Nero Granturismo, Ferrari 458 Italia, McLaren MP4-12C, Audi R8 V10 Spyder, and Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Ethical Forestry directors Paul Laver, Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway
The seven year, £70m investment fraud cheated more than 3,000 people out of their savings.
The Serious Fraud Office, in conjunction with Dorset Police, announced an investigation into the firm and its directors in March 2017. It charged directors in June 2023 with two counts of “Conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation”, contrary to section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977, plus one count of “Fraudulent trading”, contrary to section 993 of the Companies Act 2006.
The three directors, Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway and Paul Laver, pleaded not guilty to all charges at Southwark Crown Court in March 2025, but pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in January this year.
They were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on 3 September with Mr Pickard handed six years in prison for fraudulent trading, while Mr Greenaway and Mr Laver were sentenced to five years and three months and four years and six months respectively in prison for the same offence.
Following on from the three defendants pleading guilty to fraudulent trading, the SFO said it will look to recover assets from the convicted defendants.
The amount of compensation handed out by the FSCS to people hit by Ethical Forestry's scheme is only a relatively small part of the annual cash it hands to fraud victims every year. The FSCS has anticipated that compensation payments of £267m will be made during 2026.
In the 12 months to March 2026 the FSCS paid out £267m to 14,113 failed firm victims, according to figures published in its annual report. That works out at an average £18,918.
In the year to July 2025 it said it recovered more than £56m from failed firms but during the year paid out £176m in compensation to consumers in relation to investments, pensions and financial advice.
The FSCS has been asked for comment on the compensation payouts to Ethical Forestry victims and any response will be reported here later. The FSCS said that because the matter involves some direct investments in the company it is a complex matter.