Fund manager Crispin Odey has been provisionally banned from working in financial services and fined £1.8m by the UK regulator for a “lack of integrity”.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said Mr Odey had attempted to “frustrate” a disciplinary process into sexual harassment allegations against him, and his conduct proved he was “not a fit and proper person to perform any function related to regulated activities”.
The misconduct allegations – strongly denied by Mr Odey – were first reported in the Financial Times, which posted claims from 13 women over a period spanning 25 years. Mr Odey has issued libel proceedings against the paper.
Mr Odey, who founded the now defunct hedge fund Odey Asset Management (OAM), is challenging the FCA’s decision, which is provisional.
In its findings, the regulator said Mr Odey “deliberately sought to frustrate OAM’s disciplinary processes into his conduct to protect his own interests”.
It said Mr Odey used his majority shareholding in OAM to remove the existing members of its executive committee, just weeks before he was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing in January 2022.
He then appointed himself sole member of the committee and decided the disciplinary hearing into his conduct would be indefinitely postponed since he said he was unable to conduct it with impartiality.
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.
“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.”
Since the wider investigation by the Financial Times, OAM struggled to rebuild trust with investors and a number of major banks cut ties with the firm.
The hedge fund is the process of being dismantled with activities will be transferred to other firms.
