Four Years for [Pounds Sterling]5m Ostrich Farm Swindler

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Byline: TONY HETHERINGTON

AN organiser of an ostrich farming scam exposed by Financial Mail has been jailed for four years after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.

Jack Bennett, 64, was a director of the Nottinghamshire-based Ostrich Farming Corporation, which cheated 3,000 investors out of [pounds sterling]21 million.

In brochures and a video presented by former ITN newsreader Fiona Armstrong, the company offered birds at prices ranging from [pounds sterling]1,400 for a chick to [pounds sterling]14,000 for a mature breeder.

Investors, whose ostriches were kept on a farm in Belgium, were promised returns of up to 20 times their money …