Hedge fund manager accused by thirteen women

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One of the UK’s richest men has evaded sexual assault allegations for decades.

Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager and major political donor, abused or harassed thirteen women, according to a report by Tortoise’s Paul Caruana Galizia and the Financial Times’ Madison Marriage and Antonia Cundy.

• Eight of those women alleged that Odey sexually assaulted them.
• The incidents — which included masturbating on a female entrepreneur after a business meeting and forcing a friend’s hand on to his penis — occurred between 1998 and 2021.
• Two instances of Odey’s sexual misconduct took place after he was acquitted of sexual assault at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in March 2021.

That year, Odey’s investment management company – Odey Asset Management, which manages more than £4 billion – took measures to rein him in – unsuccessfully. The company’s executive committee tried a second time the following year and Odey – who owns an estimated 75 per cent of the firm – fired the committee.

Odey Asset Management declined to comment on the sexual assault and harassment allegations, but said in a statement that it “has, at all times, complied with all of its legal and regulatory obligations”. Reached briefly by phone, Odey said the allegations were “rubbish”. Later, his lawyers said he “strenuously disputed” the allegations and said the journalists had a “preordained agenda”.

So what? The allegations of assault against Odey raise questions for some of his powerful associates.

• The Conservative party received more than £355,000 in donations from Odey over the period of the alleged sexual assaults. The company he owns and runs, Odey Asset Management, donated £20,000 to the party in 2011.
• Kwasi Kwarteng, the former UK chancellor, worked for Odey before he went into politics. He then worked for Odey as a consultant after he’d been elected as an MP. Kwarteng went to Odey’s house for a private lunch a few weeks before he was appointed chancellor and announced a mini-budget that generated huge profits for Odey’s funds.
• Odey Asset Management won Firm of the year, beating seven rivals, at hedge fund world’s equivalent of the Oscars in February. The awards are based on financial performance, but they confer industry-wide recognition and celebration on winners. By then, eight women had reported Odey’s behaviour to the press or police.

A Tortoise podcast released in December – Octopus: the allegations against Crispin Odey – reported five women’s allegations of sexual assault against Crispin Odey. Three of them participated in today’s report.

Yet the Financial Conduct Authority, which has been investigating Odey’s behaviour, still considers him “fit and proper”, the standard senior management at financial firms must uphold. And he continues to be quoted in Britain’s most influential newspapers.

Odey’s continued public rehabilitation highlights the limitations of the #MeToo movement. “Without standing up to him, he will do it again and continue doing it,” one woman told the journalists. “The number of known assaults is large enough now that we are able to validate each other’s stories and face him with the confidence needed to stop his vile behaviour continuing.”