“Mr Odey repeatedly sought to evade and obstruct efforts to hold him to account. His lack of integrity means he deserves to be banned from the industry.”
Brexit financier Crispin Odey has been banned from the City and fined £1.8 million for trying to obstruct a disciplinary hearing into sexual harassment allegations made against him in 2021.
Odey tried to block disciplinary processes at his hedge fund, Odey Asset Management (OAM), to protect his own interests.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found that he fired OAM’s executive committee twice and appointed himself sole member to prevent the leadership from holding a disciplinary hearing.
OAM finally held a disciplinary hearing was on 29 November 2022, nearly a year after it was originally scheduled. Odey denies any misconduct.
Therese Chambers, joint executive director of enforcement and market oversight at the FCA said: “A culture of silence in which allegations of misconduct are not dealt with effectively can put consumers and markets at risk.”
Chambers added: “Mr Odey repeatedly sought to evade and obstruct efforts to hold him to account. His lack of integrity means he deserves to be banned from the industry.”
The allegations included reports of sexual harassment of female staff members between 2003 and 2020, and an allegation of sexual assault in 2005.
The allegations surfaced in the media in summer 2023, leading to Odey’s removal from OAM. The firm announced it would close in October 2023.
The well-known Tory donor gave the Leave campaign £873,323 and made an estimated £220m by betting markets would collapse if Leave won.
The morning after the Brexit vote, he told the BBC: “There’s that Italian expression, ‘il mattino ha l’oro in bocca’ (the morning has gold in its mouth), and never has one felt so much that idea as this morning”, before chortling at length.
Odey once said that days when there were Brexit-related political crises were a “good day” for his hedge fund.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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