Two men jailed for Arden Forestry Management investment fraud

Brendan Burgess

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Two men have been jailed for their role in a €5.5m forestry investment fraud.

Garret Hevey, aged 43, from Brookdene, in Shankill, Dublin, and 42-year-old David Peile formerly from Ballyguile, in Wicklow, both pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in relation to a company called Arden Forestry Management between January 2014 and June 2016.

Both also admitted charges of inducing individuals to make payments by deception between September 2015 and May 2016.

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The Circuit Criminal Court heard the investment would have required around 858 acres of land to be serviced, but when the fraud came to light the company owned just over 30 acres, purchased for €61,000.

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In mitigation, Senior Counsel, Sean Guerin said the scheme was "wholly untypical" of a Ponzi scheme.

He said his client, Mr Hevey, did not display the behaviour of someone operating a Ponzi scheme but someone who operated an unusual business model, perhaps unsuccessfully and made attempts to remedy it.
 
If you are thinking of making any investment and you’re not sure if it might end up like this, pay an adviser to recommend a regulated investment.

If you purchase any unregulated investment it is much more likely that you will end up in this sort of situation.
 
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