NEW YORK/LONDON, June 10 (Portal) – Crispin Odey, one of Britain’s best-known hedge fund managers, will leave Odey Asset Management, the company he founded, amid allegations of sexual misconduct, the company’s board said on Saturday.
The Financial Times and Tortoise reported Thursday in a joint publication allegations by 13 women that Odey sexually assaulted or molested them over a 25-year period. He denies the allegations.
Odey and Duncan Lamont, advisers at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which represents Odey Asset Management (OAM), did not immediately respond to a Portal request for comment on the hedge fund manager’s departure.
“As of today, he will no longer have any economic or personal interest in the partnership,” the board of the OAM said in a statement.
OAM will continue to operate without him and his partners will control and manage the asset management firm, the company said. It added that it has investigated allegations regarding Odey but cannot comment in detail as it is bound by statutory confidentiality obligations.
According to a person familiar with the discussions, the company plans to change its name.
Odey told the FT on Saturday that he had been briefed on the company’s position, adding: “You have to have a willing buyer and a willing seller.” He didn’t elaborate.
Since Thursday’s release, three Wall Street firms known as OAM’s prime brokers — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley — had entered an investigation or were in the process of severing ties with the company. Some of its customers said they were going out of business with OAM as a result of the allegations.
As the main brokers, banks help facilitate trading and enable betting, so their support is vital.
JPMorgan and Goldman continue to review their prime broking relationships with the company, sources told Portal on Saturday. Morgan Stanley declined to comment. UBS, which also acts as prime broker for the company, did not immediately respond.
Odey, who was acquitted of indecent assault by a British court in 2021, told Portal on Thursday that the report “was a repetition of an old article and none of the allegations had been confirmed in a courtroom or inquest.”
A leading supporter of Brexit and a political donor to the Conservative Party, Odey founded OAM in 1991.
The company is known for heavily leveraged bets in trading global stocks, debt and currencies, and has $4.8 billion in assets under management, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September 2022.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has been investigating OAM since 2021, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday. When the regulator was contacted on Saturday, it declined to comment.
Reporting by Carolina Mandl in New York and Nell Mackenzie in London; Additional reporting by Kirstin Ridley; Edited by Elisa Martinuzzi and Daniel Wallis
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