Hedge fund chief exits amid sex assault claims
Crispin Odey, one of Britain's best-known hedge fund managers, is leaving Odey Asset Management following allegations of sexual misconduct, the firm's executive committee said in a statement on Saturday. The Financial Times and Tortoise, in a joint publication on Thursday, reported allegations by 13 women that Odey had sexually assaulted or harassed them over a 25-year period. He denies the allegations. Odey and Duncan Lamont, a consultant at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys, which represents Odey Asset Management, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hedge fund manager's departure. "As from today, he will no longer have any economic or personal involvement in the partnership," Odey's executive committee said in the statement. Odey's group will continue to operate without him and his partners will control and manage the asset management firm. The company added that it has been investigating allegations concerning Odey, but cannot comment in detail because it is bound by legal obligations of confidentiality. Since the publication on Thursday three of OAM's banks – Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley – and some of its clients have moved to review or cut ties with the business. As the fund's so-called prime brokers, the Wall Street firms help facilitate its trades. Odey, who was cleared of indecent assault charges by a British court in 2021, said on Thursday that the report was "a rehash of an old article and none of the allegations have been stood up in a courtroom or an investigation." (Reuters)