The Serious Fraud Office has charged three men, including ex-IFA David Kennedy, with multiple offences following a long-running investigation into the collapse of the £120m Axiom Legal Financing Fund.

Timothy Schools, David Kennedy and Richard Emmett have all been charged with carrying out a fraudulent scheme to divert money from the Axiom Legal Financing Fund for their own benefit.

The case will be listed for Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, 30 September 2020.

Timothy Schools, a former solicitor, has been charged with three counts of fraudulent trading, one count of fraud and one count of transferring criminal property.

David Kennedy, a former independent financial adviser, has been charged with one count of fraudulent trading.

Richard Emmett , a former solicitor, has 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 by another contrary to Section 328(1) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The Axiom Legal Financing Fund was set up in 2009 and was aimed at providing funding for ‘no win, no fee’ solicitors. The fund provided short term fixed interest loans to UK law firms and promised investors who put money into the fund capital security and capital growth opportunities.

In 2014 the Serious Fraud Office began an investigation into the collapse of the fund, an unregulated collective investment scheme (UCIS).