Kevin Dent KC has concluded a major £70 million investment fraud on behalf of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO).
The three defendants — Matthew Pickard, Stephen Greenaway and Paul Laver — were sentenced at Southwark Crown Court to a combined 15 years and nine months’ imprisonment following their guilty pleas to fraudulent trading.
Over a seven-year period, the defendants cold-called more than 3,000 members of the public, many of them pensioners, persuading them to invest their savings and pension funds in a purported tree-planting scheme in Costa Rica. While trees were planted, no funds were set aside for their maintenance or harvesting, meaning the promised returns could never be achieved.
The SFO’s investigation uncovered the scale of the fraud, including the diversion of millions of pounds of investors’ money to fund the defendants’ lavish lifestyles, luxury properties, sports cars and holidays. The defendants also diverted £2.77 million to administer a tax avoidance scheme for their own benefit.
All three defendants pleaded guilty in January 2026, ahead of the scheduled trial. Pickard was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment, Greenaway to five years and three months, and Laver to four years and six months. Each was also disqualified from acting as a company director for ten years.
Read the full SFO announcement here.
Kevin Dent KC is a highly persuasive advocate with a calm, measured, yet robust courtroom manner. Since taking silk in 2019, Kevin has built upon his heavyweight practice in the fields of financial and serious crime.
"Kevin has an extraordinary command of the details of very complicated, fact-heavy cases. An understated, yet devastating, advocate." Legal 500.
Kevin is ranked in the Legal 500 in Fraud - Crime and Crime. He is also recognised in Chambers & Partners for his work in Crime.
To instruct Kevin, please contact our clerking team on +44 (0) 207 332 5400 or email on clerks@5sah.co.uk
