A former adviser has been charged alongside two others in a fraud investigation into the collapsed Axiom Fund.
In a statement today the Serious Fraud Office said three men had been charged with carrying out a fraudulent scheme to divert money from the Axiom Legal Financing Fund for their own benefit.
David Kennedy, a 67 year-old former IFA, has been charged with one count of fraudulent trading as part of an investigation which has been ongoing since 2014.
The SFO has also charged 59 year-old former solicitor Timothy Schools with three counts of fraudulent trading, one count of fraud and one count of transferring criminal property, alongside 47 year-old former solicitor Richard Emmett, who was 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 by another".
The case will be listed at Westminster Magistrates’ Court at the end of September.
The £100m 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.
rachel.mortimer@ft.com
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