The financial regulator has warned the former hedge fund manager Crispin Odey that it is planning to take action against him for failing to act with integrity, and deliberately frustrating a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations in order to protect his own interests.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it had notified Odey that it believed he had breached the regulator’s code of conduct, which “required him to act with integrity”, between December 2021 and November 2022.
During that time, it said Odey had used his majority shareholding in his eponymous hedge fund, Odey Asset Management (OAM), to get rid of the existing members of its executive committee, just weeks before he was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing in January 2022.
Then, as the sole member of the executive committee, Odey decided to indefinitely postpone the misconduct hearing, saying he was unable to conduct it with impartiality.
Odey then appointed a new executive board in January 2022, but removed all members by March that year, again installing himself as sole member. Three more members were added to the board before the firm finally conducted a disciplinary hearing in November 2022, 10 months later than originally planned.
“The FCA considers that during the relevant period Mr Odey demonstrated a lack of integrity, in that his actions were deliberately designed to frustrate OAM’s ongoing disciplinary process into his conduct, in order to protect his own interests; and showed a reckless disregard for OAM’s governance and caused OAM to breach certain regulatory requirements,” the regulator said.
“In addition, Mr Odey’s behaviour towards both OAM and the FCA lacked candour,” the FCA said. “He used improper means to protect his own interests and achieve his objectives; the reasons he gave for his dismissal of ExCo, and his conduct in his dealings with the FCA also support the finding that he lacks integrity.”
The FCA has yet to determine what action it may take against Odey, who now has the opportunity to have the warning formally reviewed by the FCA’s regulatory decisions committee before potentially appealing against any prospective regulatory action at the watchdog’s upper tribunal.
Action includes anything from a public reprimand, to fining Odey, or banning him from certain roles in the City.
The Guardian was not immediately able to reach Odey for comment.
The FCA’s warning notice comes after allegations published last year by the Financial Times, with Tortoise Media, which reported claims of sexual assault and harassment against Odey from 20 women. The allegations led to him being removed from his hedge fund business, and in October 2023 OAM announced it was closing.
after newsletter promotion
In June 2023, Odey said the allegations had not been proved in court and he had done nothing illegal. “I have been cross-examined by the [Financial Conduct Authority],” he said. “The one thing I have not been is hiding anything. I have kept everybody apprised of any accusations.”
Odey claimed the FT report was a “rehash” of previous reporting, and said the allegations in it were either untrue, or that his relations with women had at the time been “consensual”.
In March this year, Odey was accused of rape in a civil lawsuit in the most serious claim to be made against the prominent City financier. Civil lawsuits had already been issued at the high court by two women alleging they were sexually assaulted and suing Odey and OAM.
Odey has previously denied any misconduct.