Crisis-hit Odey firm moves to calm investors
Bosses at Crispin Odey’s hedge fund trying to calm investors after founder is ousted over sexual assault allegations
- Report alleged Odey sexually harassed or assaulted 13 women over 25 years
- Hedge fund said it took the allegations of misconduct ‘extremely seriously’
- Odey denies the claims against him, stating that they were ‘rubbish’
Pushed out: Crispin Odey founded Odey Asset Management in 1991
Bosses at the hedge fund set up by Crispin Odey have spent the weekend trying to calm investors after its founder was ousted over sexual assault allegations.
Odey was pushed out by partners on Saturday after an explosive report alleged he sexually harassed or assaulted 13 women over 25 years.
Peter Martin, chief executive of Odey Asset Management, and Michael Ede, chief financial officer, said in a statement: ‘Crispin Odey is leaving the partnership. As from today, he will no longer have any economic or personal involvement in the partnership.’
The hedge fund said it took the allegations of misconduct, first reported by the Financial Times, ‘extremely seriously’.
Partners at Odey Asset Management were drafting a letter to investors over the weekend – hoping to restore confidence in the business.
On Monday, the group also insisted its funds were not restricting investor withdrawals in response to weekend reports.
A spokesman for the group said: ‘All funds are open today as per usual business and we’re not considering gating any funds.
‘The only fund we’re considering closing is the Odey Swan Fund, the Ucits fund formerly run by Crispin Odey.’
Odey, who founded the firm in 1991, denies the claims against him, stating that they were ‘rubbish’.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday on Friday night before stepping down, Odey said that he was the ‘victim’ of an ‘aggressive campaign’.
But the allegations have pitched the company into crisis, with one industry source predicting ‘it’s all over’ for the firm: ‘It will never recover from this and the partners will just run their own personal money under a different name.’
Some of the world’s biggest banks had already started distancing themselves from the fund last week.
JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs are reviewing their relationship as prime brokers, entities that provide hedge funds with credit. And Schroders has sold its last remaining investments.
French brokerage Exane, part of BNP Paribas, was said to have cut ties with the fund while Morgan Stanley has also severed links.
Reports last week said the City watchdog was still probing Odey Asset Management and had widened its investigation in light of the new claims.
Odey has been at the helm of the hedge fund more than three decades. At its peak the firm managed more than £10billion worth of investments.
A Brexiteer, Odey says he made £220m in 2016 betting against the pound as the UK voted to leave the EU. He started donating regularly to the Conservative Party in 2007 and his donations to date total more than £350,000.