UK COURT OF APPEAL UPHOLDS 11-YEAR SENTENCES ON GREEN INVESTMENT SCHEME FRAUDSTERS.

The Court of Appeal has upheld the convictions and sentences for two fraudsters who scammed around 2,000 investors out of their savings as part of a green investment scheme.

Following a Serious Fraud Office prosecution, Andrew Nathaniel Skeene and Junie Conrad Omari Bowers, directors of Global Forestry Investments, were sentenced in June 2022 to 11 years in prison.

They had encouraged victims to invest in three Brazilian teak tree plantations, claiming they were secure and ethical investments that would help protect the Amazon rainforest and support local communities. In reality, the pair enriched themselves with the finances they received.

You can read full details on the case here:  

• https://www.gov.uk/sfo-cases/global-forestry-investments  
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Global Forestry Investments

• The SFO investigated suspected fraud at Global Forestry Investments and Global Forex Investments in 2015.
• The company invested around £37 million in investment and was presented as a secure, well-managed, ethical investment scheme to help protect the Amazon rainforest and support local communities.
• On 9 July 2019, the SFO charged Andrew Skeene, a former director of Global Forestry Investments, with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, and misconduct in the course of winding up.
• On 31 July 2019, Omari Bowers, a former director, was charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, and misconduct while winding up.
• On 31 May 2022, Skeene and Bowers were found guilty by a jury of three counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of misconduct while winding up a company and sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.
• An application by Skeene and Bowers for permission to appeal their sentences and convictions was heard at the Court of Appeal on 7 November 2024.
• On 21 January 2025, the sentences and convictions of both men were upheld by the Court of Appeal.

Case Timeline

• 21 Jan 2025 - the sentences and convictions of Skeene and Bowers were unanimously upheld by the Court of Appeal.
• 8 Feb 2024 and 7 Nov 2024 - Hearings in the Court of Appeal of Skeene and Bowers’ applications for permission to appeal their sentences and convictions.
• 31 May 2022 – Andrew Nathaniel Skeene and Junie Conrad Omari Bowers were found guilty of three counts of conspiracy to defraud and one count of misconduct while winding up a company. They were sentenced to 11 years.
• 31 Jul 2019 – Omari Bowers, former director of Global Forestry Investments, was charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, and misconduct while winding up and ordered to face Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 2 August 2019.
• 9 Jul 2019 – Andrew Skeene, a former director of Global Forestry Investments, was charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery, and misconduct while winding up.
• 25 Feb 2015 – Global Forestry Investments investigation announced by SFO. Search operations were conducted at two sites in the southeast of England.

See past press releases under “News” on the SFO’s National Archives page. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C18071