The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged five men including former CEO Pragnesh Modhwadia in relation to the collapse of Axiom Ince and the alleged improper use of more than £60m of client money.

In a statement issued today, the SFO said the offences included allegations of fraud, forgery and the destruction of documents.

The charges follow a 15-month investigation by the SFO, which stepped in after the SRA closed the accumulator firm in October 2023 soon after it had bought shipping firm Ince and then national insurance practice Plexus out of administration. 

Modhwadia, former co-director Shyam Mistry, and former chief financial officer Muhammad Ali have been charged with two counts of fraud by abuse of position and are alleged to have “misused client funds and exposed thousands of the firm’s clients to losses”.

Modhwadia and Mistry are also charged, alongside the firm’s ex-chief technology officer Rupesh Karawadra and vice president of IT, Jayesh Anjaria, with “conspiring to conceal, destroy or dispose of documents relevant to a Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) investigation into the firm”.

All five defendants are also charged with conspiring to mislead the SRA using false documents.  

SFO director Nick Ephgrave 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.” 

The defendants are expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 15 January.

In October, the Legal Services Board initiated enforcement action against the SRA after a report highlighted multiple failures in its regulation of law firm Axiom Ince ahead of its collapse