// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Men jailed over £70m tree-planting investment scam
(Left to right) Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway and Paul Laver led luxury lifestyles, the court heard
Three men have been jailed over a multi-million pound tree-planting scam that cost 3,000 investors their workplace pensions.
Matthew Pickard, 55, Stephen Greenaway, 46, and Paul Laver, 47, bought luxury cars and holidays from the profits of Bournemouth-based Ethical Forestry Ltd, which promised forestry investments in Costa Rica.
The firm took £70m from small investors before it collapsed in 2015, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Pickard, who pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading, was jailed for six years. Greenaway and Laver, who also admitted the charge, received sentences of five years and three months and four and a half years respectively.
Andrea Panayi (right) lost £125,000 from her pension scheme
Judge Alexander Milne KC said it was "hard to overstate the impact of the company's collapse".
He added: "Directors of companies are entitled to receive remuneration, shareholders' dividends.
The directors took £14m from the firm, which employed hundreds of sales staff at a Bournemouth call centre.
Former employee Susan Cox told the BBC that staff became used to the sound of the directors' "top-of-the-range, flash cars roaring into the parking area".