They denied charges of conspiracy to cheat the public revenue when the case opened in February 2017 at Southwark Crown Court. Richards, Gold, Whiston-Dew and Demetriou also denied cheating the public revenue.
A jury, however, found them guilty and they were sentenced on 10 November 2017.
A sixth man, Malcolm Gold, aged 73, pleaded guilty to a charge of cheating the public revenue in November 2016 and was sentenced to 20 months in prison in January 2017.
Gambled and lost
Sentencing the men, justice Andrew Edis said: “You played with high stakes and lost. It was bare-faced dishonesty and you did everything to inflict loss on the public, the people who pay their taxes, who were also victims.
“It was utter dishonesty, sophisticated planning and astonishing greed hidden behind a mask of concern for the environment.”
There is no evidence to suggest investors – who are paying back the money they received from HMRC – knew the scheme was a scam or that their money was not being spent on research and development.
HMRC is seeking to recover criminal proceeds from the fraudsters.
