(Bloomberg) -- The UK’s fraud cops charged five with fraud, forgery and destruction of documents over the collapse of law firm Axiom Ince.
The defunct firm’s chief executive officer Pragnesh Modhwadia, his co-director Shyam Mistry and the chief financial officer Muhammad Ali were each charged with fraud over allegations they misused more than £60 million ($75.2 million) of client money.
“They are alleged to have misused client funds and exposed thousands of the firm’s clients to losses,” the SFO said on Friday.
Axiom was shut down last year after it was referred to a Metropolitan Police Service investigation following allegations of misappropriated client money. It operated 14 branches in England and Wales and employed over 1,400 staff.
The SFO also charged Modhwadia, Mistry, the firm’s Chief Technology Officer Rupesh Karawadra and a vice president Jayesh Anjaria with conspiring to hide or destroy documents linked to a Solicitors Regulation Authority investigation into the firm.
The five men also conspired to mislead the regulator into using false documents and will appear at Westminster Magistrates court on Jan. 15, according to the SFO.
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