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Crispin Odey: The Octopus’s world
The Slow Newscast • S1, Episode 210
Crispin Odey: The Octopus’s world
Last December Tortoise published a story about Crispin Odey - one of the country’s most successful hedge funders who was also a major donor to the Conservative Party and an enthusiastic supporter of Brexit. Paul Caruana-Galizia had spoken to five women who alleged they had been assaulted or sexually harassed by Crispin Odey over the course of several decades. Crispin Odey told us that the women’s accounts ``contain many falsehoods and inaccuracies' '. He threatened Tortoise with “consequences”' if we published. His company, Odey Asset Management, said it took allegations like these “extremely seriously”.
But the view inside the firm was that they could weather the storm from the podcast. They did nothing. And externally too that seemed to the prevailing view. The Financial Conduct Authority, which considers sexual misconduct within its regulatory framework, did nothing either. Nor did the police. The Conservative Party which had taken more than a quarter of a million pounds in donations from Odey did nothing, as far as we are aware.
So Paul Caruana Galizia teamed up with two journalists from the Financial Times and together they spoke to thirteen women who said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by Crispin Odey. When this story was published in early June the dam finally broke. Crispin Odey was dismissed and his company is being wound up. This is the story of the people and institutions who chose to look the other way in the face of growing evidence against Crispin Odey.
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