The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged five men following the collapse of the law firm, Axiom Ince, and alleged improper use of £60m in client money.

The firm’s chief executive officer and director, Pragnesh Modhwadia, director, Shyam Mistry and chief financial officer, Muhammed Ali, have all been charged with two counts of fraud by abuse of position.

The trio are alleged to have misused client funds, while exposing thousands of the firm’s clients to losses.

Modhwadia and Mistry, along with the firm’s chief technology officer, Rupesh Karawadra, and vice-president of IT, Jayesh Anjaria, have also been charged by the regulator for conspiring to conceal, destroy or dispose of documents relevant to a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation into the firm.

All five men have been charged with conspiring to mislead the SRA by using false documents.

Axiom Ince was closed by the SRA in October 2023, with the firm running offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, London and Manchester.

The SFO’s investigation was opened 15 months ago and is one of its fastest to result in criminal charges, according to the regulator.

The defendants are expected to appear in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15 January 2025 to answer the charges against them.

Director of the SFO, Nick Ephgrave QPM, said: "The collapse of Axiom Ince left thousands of clients exposed to significant losses and hundreds of people out of a job. The SFO set out to identify and bring those responsible to justice, and today’s charging is a significant milestone in achieving that.

"I pledged at the start of my tenure to speed up case progression at the SFO and with this investigation, opened only 15 months ago, we have conducted a thorough and targeted investigation in record time to bring these charges today."

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