Harlequin chairman's son 'ran £1.6m Ponzi scheme', court hears

Matthew Ames, son of troubled overseas property company Harlequin's chairman David Ames, has been accused of running a £1.6m "Ponzi scheme" under the guise of saving the rainforest, a court has heard.

Ames - who last August was "monitoring things" for his father at Harlequin's flagship Caribbean resort Buccament Bay - was charged with fraud in December 2012 in relation to his two green investment firms, Forestry for Life and the Investor Club. Harlequin have said Matthew Ames is no longer overseeing Buccament Bay. Forestry for Life and the Investor Club took more than a million pounds from investors who were promised 15% returns from teak tree plantations and rainforest protection projects, but at the time the alleged fraud was discovered by the City of London Police and the then r...