The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged three men with multiple offences in connection with its investigation into the collapse of the Axiom Legal Financing Fund.
In a statement on 21 August, the SFO said that the trio “are charged with carrying out a fraudulent scheme to divert money from the Axiom Legal Financing Fund for their own benefit”.
Former IFA David Kennedy has been charged with one count of fraudulent trading, while former solicitor Timothy Schools has been charged with three counts of fraudulent trading, one count of fraud and one count of transferring criminal property.
Richard Emmett, a former solicitor, has also been charged with one count of fraudulent trading and one count of being concerned in an arrangement which facilitates the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property.
The case will be listed at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 30 September 2020.
History
The Axiom fund was an unregulated collective investment scheme based in the Cayman Islands, which lent money to ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers and was marketed to UK investors and advisers.
It was suspended in October 2012 and, in February 2013, Grant Thornton was appointed receiver of the fund.
Recently, a group of UK and international investors launched a multi-million-pound claim against life insurers Quilter International and Friends Provident International, and the Axiom fund was named as part of the legal claim.
