Swiss teakwood firm Life Forestry goes bankrupt, putting investors’ money at risk

Life Forestry Switzerland has gone bankrupt, putting investments by thousands of teak-tree buyers at risk.

The Swiss company had more than 6,000 customers across Europe, including about 800 in Switzerland, who invested around 200 million Swiss francs.

It sold young teak trees in Costa Rica and Ecuador, promising to manage and harvest them in return for a share of the sale proceeds; customers were offered annual returns of up to 12 percent.

The trees exist, but are owned by local companies, while investigators are examining loans made by Life Forestry to other businesses and its managing director, Carl-Lambert Liesenberg.

Liesenberg denies that customers have lost their money, saying they still own the trees and that about 4,000 customers have signed new management contracts.

A Swiss investigation is ongoing, and a German court ruled in 2025 that the company’s business model was designed to deceive and harm customers.