A conman who bought a £5 million Lake District estate with some of his ill-gotten gains has been jailed for 14 years.
Timothy Schools, 61, received about £19.6 million from Axiom Legal Financing Fund, which was valued at £120m before it collapsed in October 2012, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Schools used millions of pounds from investors to fund his luxury lifestyle through off-shore bank accounts, which included buying the Lilymere Estate in Sedbergh.
The hunting and fishing estate includes a mansion, its own 36-acre lake, boathouse, three-bedroom cottage and four-bedroom gatehouse.
He was convicted of five counts of fraudulent trading, fraud by abuse of position and money laundering and was sentenced on Tuesday.
The Axiom Fund was set up in 2009 by Schools to provide loans to law firms pursuing no-win-no-fee cases. The fund secured over £100 million from around 500 investors, who were promised a secure return on their investment.
While investors were told their loans would be provided to a panel of high quality law firms to fund legal cases with a high likelihood of success, £40 million was paid to just three law firms – ATM, Ashton Fox and Bracewell’s – all of which Schools either owned or held undisclosed interest in.
Loans provided to these law firms were siphoned off by Schools. He used funds received by ATM Solicitors to pay himself over £1 million in salary, consultancy fees and other personal benefits.
The number of clients whose cases were affected by the fraud is in the range of 35,000, the Serious Fraud Office said.
