Stephen Eyres

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This article is part of the Tobacco portal on Sourcewatch funded from 2006 - 2009 by the American Legacy Foundation.

Stephen Eyres was the second director of FOREST, the smokers rights group with the name the Freedom Organisation for the Right to Enjoy Smoking Tobacco. Eyres attended the INFOTAB/NMA Workshop in Brussels, 13-16, 1986 and he was an active participant in numerous tobacco industry scams.

He was the protege of Ralph Harris, (Baron Harris of High Cross) who was the power behind FOREST, and the co-founder of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in London. Harris attempted to protect him when he got into trouble.

Biography

Eyres was employed for about eight years effectively as the CEO of the organisation, then appointed Director by Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, upon his own retirement from the position (Foxley-Norris died soon after). Eyres suffered multiple bouts of pneumonia and a serious debilitating eye infections. He was diagnosed with AIDS - but he kept this a secret. As the sole official director of FOREST, Eyres discovered a secret bank account that had been created by Foxley-Norris that was not normally audited, and he used the money to take multiple worldwide trips. He also purchased a shelf-company in the Cayman Islands and used this to purchase a vacation home and land in Spain. He was accused by Chris Tame, FOREST's administrator of embezzling £37,000 (another source says 100,000 pounds a year) from FOREST, and began to pay off the debt -- but died shortly after.

External resources

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References

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