Odey Asset Management to shut down after allegations against founder

Crispin Odey was ousted from the firm in June after a series of sexual assault and harassment allegations.

Scandal-hit hedge fund Odey Asset Management is to close just months after its founder, Crispin Odey, stepped down amid a series of sexual assault and harassment allegations (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Archive)

Scandal-hit hedge fund Odey Asset Management is to close just months after a series of sexual assault and harassment allegations against its eponymous founder.

In a short statement on its website, the investment company said it has transferred all funds to new asset managers and is being wound down.

“Odey Asset Management, including Brook Asset Management and Odey Wealth, will be closing,” it said.

“Fund managers and funds have moved to new asset managers.”

The group added: “Staff remain to wind down the business and make sure investors are looked after.”

It comes just five months after allegations of sexual misconduct were made against the firm’s founder, Crispin Odey.

In June, the Financial Times published a series of allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct by Mr Odey, which he denies.

The newspaper – together with Tortoise Media – said it had spoken to 13 women who claimed they were abused or harassed by the 64-year-old fund manager.

He was ousted from the firm in June, shortly after the allegations, and the hedge fund has since been fighting for survival.

The group – founded in 1991 – had around 4.4 billion US dollars (£3.6 billion) in assets under management before the crisis erupted, but the reputational damage saw customers rush to remove their money from the funds it manages, while a raft of banking groups also cut ties with the firm.

Odey Asset Management had hoped to rebrand to distance itself from the scandal, although it had already begun to offload some of its activities and staff to other asset managers in June, soon after the allegations were revealed.

The alleged incidents happened between 1998 and 2021 and involved women who had either worked for Odey Asset Management or had professional dealings with Mr Odey.

It was not the first time that people had made claims about Mr Odey’s behaviour.

In 2021 he was found not guilty in a court case in which he was accused of an indecent assault which allegedly happened in 1998.

He has denied the allegations made against him, but recently admitted to the FT, in response to one of the complaints from a female colleague, that he “did grab her breasts”, although he said that he was on heavy medication due to dental treatment earlier that day.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched an investigation in July into whether Mr Odey is a “fit and proper person” to work in financial services.

The City watchdog said at the time it was also looking at whether Mr Odey “failed to comply with the FCA’s conduct rules relating to integrity and acting with due skill, care and diligence”.