A former director of Global Forestry Investments (GFI), which marketed investments in Brazilian teak plantations, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 29 June.
Andrew Skeene has been charged with conspiracy to defraud, forgery and misconduct in the course of winding up.
The nine charges relate to alleged frauds concerning GFI between August 2010 and December 2015.
GFI first came to the attention of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in 2014.
Due to the ongoing nature of the case, the SFO said it “cannot provide further comment at this time”.
Shiny brochure
The minimum investment in the Brazilian teak plantation, according to a brochure still available online, was £5,000 ($6,260, €5,579).
It bought the investor one plot containing around 100 trees.
The scheme was promoted as being Sipp-compatible, with a minimum 10% return on investment per annum.
Background
On 25 February 2015, the SFO announced it had opened a criminal investigation into alleged fraud concerning GFI and another company called Global Forex Investments.
It is not clear from the statement how the two companies are related.
But, as part of the investigation, the SFO executed search warrants in conjunction with the City of London Police at two addresses in the south-east of England.
It also encouraged members of the public who have invested in the schemes to complete a questionnaire on its website.
