Crispin Odey set for high-stakes legal showdown with the FCA
Millionaire fund manager Crispin Odey is set to face the City watchdogs for a three-week trial as he aims to challenge his £1.8m fine and ban from working in the financial services industry.
After a series of historical sexual assault allegations that were made against Odey, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) slapped him with a hefty fine and banned him from working in the industry.
Last March, the financial watchdog cited Odey’s “lack of integrity” in their decision after he attempted to fight the allegations of sexual assault he faced at his firm.
Odey Asset Management was rocked in 2023 after a Financial Times and Tortoise Media investigation revealed more than a dozen women had accused the manager of sexual assault.
Odey has denied the claims, calling them “rubbish”.
He had also faced a criminal charge in 2021 after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) charged Odey with indecent assault relating to an incident in 1998, but he was later acquitted.
Odey is also preparing for a second high-stakes legal battle against the Financial Times for defamation, which is being heard alongside five personal injury claims from women alleging sexual misconduct, which he denies.
That trial is expected to get underway in June, and Odey is seeking at least £79m in damages.
Odey v FCA
He is now seeking to overturn the FCA’s ruling at the Upper Tribunal, in a case scheduled to start on Monday, 9 March, for a three-week hearing before Judge Rupert Jones.
Monday is a reading day for the judges, the main trial will start on Tuesday.
In court documents, revealed last month, the FCA alleged that Odey’s wound-down hedge fund unearthed nearly 50 allegations of “inappropriate conduct” by female staff about the disgraced hedge fund manager during an internal investigation.
An investigation by law firm Simmons & Simmons allegedly uncovered 46 allegations of inappropriate conduct spanning 17 years. At the time, Odey reportedly received a “final written warning” and admitted his behaviour needed to change, but he remained in charge of the firm.
As part of the evidence submitted, Odey claims the FCA treated his case as “totemic” and as an opportunity to burnish its new ability to investigate non-financial misconduct.
This will be the first time Odey is publicly cross-examined about the events that unfolded at his firm.
The FCA legal team has instructed Fountain Court’s Clare Sibson KC, Simon Paul, and 4 Stone Buildings Lara Hassell-Hart. While Odey has Three Raymond Buildings’ Alisdair Williamson KC and QEB Hollis Whiteman’s Jason Mansell, instructed by Kingsley Napley partner Jill Lorimer.